It was an order, not a suggestion: court

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s statement on sugar prices will encourage hoarding: Bench

August 31, 2010 01:05 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:24 pm IST - New Delhi

A labourer unloads wheat at the wholesale grain market in Najafgarh, New Delhi. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

A labourer unloads wheat at the wholesale grain market in Najafgarh, New Delhi. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that its August 12 directive to distribute grain at “no cost” or “very low cost” was an order and not a suggestion as made out by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Hearing a petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties relating to the streamlining of the Public Distribution System, A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma gave this clarification, referring to media reports on Mr. Pawar's statement. “It was not a suggestion. It is there in our order. You tell your Minister. Let him not misunderstand our order,” Justice Verma told Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran.

Mr. Pawar had said it was not possible to implement the court's suggestion because the government was already providing subsidy.

Justice Verma also read out Mr. Pawar's statement that sugar prices might rise in near future. He told Mr. Parasaran “statements like these would encourage hoarding of sugar.”

When the hearing resumed, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the PUCL, gave a series of suggestions and sought directives.

After hearing Mr. Parasaran and Mr. Gonsalves, the court said: “According to the court commissioner's report, about 50,000 tonnes of wheat had deteriorated, and is not fit for consumption. He submitted that several lakhs of tonnes of wheat procured has not been properly preserved.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.