Supreme Court urges policies to cut business costs, prices

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has called upon the government to create incentives through appropriate policies to lower the cost of doing business and the cost of producing and supplying goods, thereby facilitating lower prices for consumers.

“It is the constitutional obligation of the government, as provided in Article 38 of the Constitution, to promote the economic and social well-being of the people,” emphasised Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.

Justice Mandokhail was heading a two-judge bench, also comprising Justice Salahuddin Panwhar, which took up an appeal against the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the April 24, 2025 decisions of the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT), which held that the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) had indulged in prohibited price-fixing under Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010.

The SC, however, upheld the finding that the association had violated competition law by collectively determining the prices of ghee and cooking oil, while reducing the penalty imposed on PVMA from Rs50 million to Rs30m.

Vanaspati manufacturers’ price-fixing penalty reduced to Rs30m

Vanaspati manufacturers’ price-fixing penalty reduced to Rs30m

The PVMA is a representative trade association of manufacturers engaged in the production and sale of ghee and cooking oil in Pakistan, representing the collective interests of its members before the government and public bodies.

Between 2007 and 2009, amid inflationary pressure and........

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