The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has decided to resume its investigation into the ghee and cooking oil sector’s suspected cartelisation behaviour.
According to a statement issued by the CCP, the development came after an massive hike in the prices of ghee and edible oil.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had suspended the Lahore High Court’s order concerning halting of probe against the oil and ghee mills. The apex court had directed the Competition Commission of Pakistan to resume the inquiry against the owners of the ghee and oil mills.
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Last year on July 30, the CCP had taken notice of an unexplained hike in the prices of ghee and cooking oil. The commission under Section 37 (1) of the Competition Act, 2010 had launched an inquiry to identify violations of Section 3 and/or Section 4 of the Act in the ghee and edible oil sector.
It was found the hike in ghee and cooking oil prices was unusual as internationally the palm oil prices were decreasing between January and May 2020.
The CCP had sought relevant information from the ghee and oil industries. However, Dalda Foods had obtained a stay order from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against providing relevant data to the Commission on Nov 18 last year.
According to the statement, the IHC on Sept 14, 2021 through its order ruled in favour of petitioner. The CCP filed an appeal against the order and the apex court fixed Nov 22 for hearing.
The court had suspended the Islamabad High Court verdict dated Sept 14, 2021, till the decision of CCP’s appeal in the apex court.