Madurai
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court took a serious note of the fact that at least three petitions had been filed before the court seeking a direction to the authorities not to shift existing direct purchase centres to procure paddy.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi observed that no such centres should be shifted for political reasons. “We do not appreciate such a move”, the judges said. The court was hearing a petition filed by C. Prabhakar of Pudukottai district.
He sought a direction to restrain the authorities from shifting the DPC in Kidarampatti village in Pudukottai district. The DPC was established last year. The authorities had proposed to shift the DPC to a private land, he said.
The court took note of the State’s submission that the shifting of the centre was necessitated due to certain inconvenience. But, the authorities have not stated the inconvenience, the judges observed. It must be ensured that such disputes don’t occur, the court said.
The court said that the DPCs should not be shifted unless there were serious problems to the public and the vendors. The court directed the Pudukkottai Collector to take a conscious and fair decision in this regard.
