Essential Commodities Act to cover major food items, oil, gas

The government is expected to declare major food items, petroleum and gas as essential commodities soon in an effort to tighten its grip on their unusual prices in local markets, official sources said. The food items concerned might come under the 'distributorship system' sometime in the current year, a top trade official said. The government approved mandatory 'distributorship system' recently for edible oil and sugar. The distributorship system, replacing the notorious DO (Delivery Order), will come into effect countrywide from June 20 this year. Besides, the government has decided to exclude over one dozen industrial products now included in the age-old list of essential commodities. The new items to be included in the list of essential commodities under "The Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956" are -- sugar, salt, spices, onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger, lentil, gram, chilli, petroleum and gas. The items, to be excluded from the Act, are -- mechanically propelled vehicles, their parts and tyres and tubes for the same, coal, iron and steel, mica, chemicals including gases, electrical and radio goods and appliances, including wares and cables, artificial silk yarn, cycles, their spare parts, and tyres and tubes for the same, timber, sanitary and water supply fittings, cement, cigarettes, tallow and torch cells. A high-level meeting, held last week in the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to update the existing "The Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956" through including new items and excluding commercial and industrial products, took the decision. The decision will now be placed to law ministry for vetting before issuing notification, a high official in the ministry said. He said the government must have adequate authority on controlling prices of essentials. The declaration of the food items concerned as essential commodities would help the MoC to impose price restriction or fix prices on the essentials through introducing 'distributorship' formula. The existing "The Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956" has no elaboration of essential food items as it mentioned 'foodstuffs' as essential products. "We have broadened the purview of foodstuffs and specified the items so that no legal issue does arise in the case of introducing distributorship on the newly introduced food items," a top MoC official told the FE. "The notification is expected to be issued sometime this month after completion of necessary procedures," he added.