LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has suspended a notification dissolving market committees across Punjab and asked for the people named in the case to explain themselves on Monday (today).

Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi passed the orders on a petition filed by Junaid Babar and others challenging the decision to end the committees.

The Punjab Agriculture Marketing Regulatory Authority director-general submitted a reply in the court, stating that the committees were dissolved because of various complaints.

However, the petitioner’s counsel Safdar Shaheen Pirzada argued the decision was taken without following the proper legal procedure according to which a committee of senior bureaucrats is the only authority empowered to take such action.

PAMRA dissolved 51 market committees in the province in June citing their failure to control food prices and eradicate corruption in the auction of agricultural commodities.