Disposing of a petition that sought a direction to the State government to issue an order to fix the prices of essential commodities, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court observed that it was a policy matter that had to be decided by an appropriate authority.
A Division Bench of Justices T. S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi observed that the State had ensured the supply of all essential commodities through public distribution system, and other special packages had been made available to the public to ensure that they were not affected.
The court was hearing the petition filed by V. R. Shiva of Tiruchi who sought a direction to the State to pass an order to fix the prices of all essential commodities. He also sought direction to establish price monitoring cells in all districts for monitoring and effective implementation of the price control order.
The petitioner said that he had witnessed a steep rise in the prices of essential commodities over the past three years. The prices of essential commodities were nothing but exploitation and fleecing the vulnerable and the middle-class society which could not bear the brunt of the prevailing prices, he said.
