Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 31
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rapped the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for “illegal, arbitrary, unjust, irrational and capricious” action after holding that a mill could not have been debarred from allotment of paddy for milling.
The case
The respondent-mill, vide letter dated September 30, 2020, issued by the Amritsar FCI Divisional Manager, was directed not to be allotted paddy on the grounds that its name appeared in a CBI report regarding misappropriation of foodgrain stock.
The Bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma also admonished the FCI for acting in “sheer violation of the principles of natural justice” after observing that the mill was condemned unheard.
The Bench was told that the respondent-mill was established in 1970 and had milling capacity of 3.5 tonne. It was allotted paddy for milling every year for the past two decades. The respondent-mill, vide letter dated September 30, 2020, issued by the Amritsar FCI Divisional Manager, was “surprisingly” directed not to be allotted paddy for milling on the ground that its name appeared in a CBI report regarding misappropriation of foodgrain stock dispatched from FCI godowns in Punjab to Jammu and Kashmir. The respondent-mill refuted the allegations.
After hearing rival contentions, the Bench asserted it found nothing on record to show at the current stage that the respondent-mill was involved in the CBI case and it could not be debarred from allotment of paddy in the absence of cogent and convincing evidence and any incriminating material.
The Bench added the FCI also acted in utter violation of its own policy. A clause in the Punjab Custom Milling Policy for Kharif 2020-21 clearly stipulated that all orders under any of its provisions would be passed after the miller had been given a written notice of the proposed action and an opportunity of personal hearing before proceeding against him.
In the present case, the FCI straightaway passed a punitive order dated September 30, 2020, stopping the respondent-mill from allotment of paddy for government milling without any show-cause notice and an opportunity of personal hearing
FCI gets court rap for ‘illegal, unjust’ denial of paddy to mill
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