The High Court on Sunday asked the government to take legal action against hoarders pushing sugar and soybean oil prices beyond the rates set by it.
It also ordered mobile courts to punish traders found selling sugar and soya bean oil at prices higher than set by the government.
A bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore summoned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh chairman, chief controller of export and import, Chittagong Port Authority chairman and the director general of National Consumer Protection to explain on August 9 their failure to check hoarding and cub profiteering on eligible oil sugar.
The court also directed the inspector general of police, the Rapid Action Battalion director-general, and secretaries of the ministries of commence and food to inspect wholesale and retail markets and ensure that no one sold sugar and soya bean oil above the prices set by the government.
It directed the authorities to ensure strict inspection to stop illegal hoarding of sugar and soybean oil for creating an artificial crisis of their supply and increase the prices by exploiting the demand of the two items.
The court issued the directives after hearing a public interest writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh with reference to its previous writ petition of November 2010 challenging the government's inaction and failure in checking soaring edible oil price.
The petitioners contended that the authorities failed in their responsibilities.
After hearing the previous public interest writ petition, the same court had on November 28, 2010 directed the officials to explain in two weeks why their inaction in arresting soybean oil price escalation would not be declared illegal.
On Sunday, the petitioners' counsel Manzill Murshid submitted that the respondents had failed to comply with the order the court had issued last year.
He argued, 'If the respondents had complied with the previous order, unscrupulous traders would not be able create an artificial crisis of supply now to raise the price of the essential sweetener by exploiting its demand ahead of Ramadan.
Citing newspaper reports, he told the court that though sugar disappeared from the market the government could not as yet ensure its supply at fair price.
Murshid also told the court that virtually no grocer sold sugar in recent days, on the plea that they had no stocks.
He also told the court that a handful of shops retailed sugar charging Tk 72 to 75 per kilogram ignoring the maximum retail price of Tk 65 set by the government.
The lawyer told the court that the retailers were charging Tk 123 per litre of bottled soybean oil against the rate of Tk 109 set by the government. He showed a 1-litre bottle of soybean oil of Rupchanda Oil Company to drive home his point.
On July 20, the government had set the maximum retail price of sugar at Tk 65 per kilogram and cooking oil at Tk 109 a litre.
The government had set the price of non-packed palm oil at Tk 99 a kg.
The prices were set following a decision the commerce ministry took at a meeting with sugar and cooking oil refiners.
The petitioners' lawyer contended, 'It is the duty of the controller of imports and exports to protect consumers' rights.
Source : New Age
