The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday extended the duration of the order given to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) not to take action against Millat Tractors Limited until October 25, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The CCP, on the other hand, sought time from the court to submit its reply in the case.

The IHC was hearing the petition filed by the Millat Tractors against the inquiry as well as the action being taken by the CCP against it. 

The petitioner had argued that a CCP team along with police personnel raided its office on September 2 with a mala fide intent and without any prior notice, adding the purpose of the raid was to harass the Millat Tractors’ management.

The petitioner further said that despite protest by the staff, the raiding party completed the search operation, seized different files and got copied the computer record. “Apart from that the cellphones of the general manager as well as of the other employees were snatched. As a matter of fact, the entire exercise on the part of the CCP was ‘illegal’,” read the petition.

It was stated in the petition that it was only when the petitioner complained to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Portal did the CCP write a letter to the Millat Tractors Limited, and sought complete record from it of the past two years to ascertain the reasons for a hike in a tractor’s price. “The commission was informed that the price of a tractor had gone up due to increase in the prices of spare parts. Despite that the commission issued three more notices to the petitioner,” read the petition, and added that the CCP was still unable to tell the reasons for initiating an inquiry against the Millat Tractors Limited. 

The petitioner prayed to the IHC not only to declare the inquiry launched by the CCP against it as ‘illegal’ but also order the latter to return to it all the goods and material it had confiscated during the raid.

Reporter Ihtesham Kiani