HC asks govt to explain

The High Court (HC) has issued a rule asking the government to explain why it should not be directed to purchase paddy and rice directly from farmers in line with the Domestic Food Grain Procurement Policy 2017.

Secretaries to the food and agriculture ministries and the director general of the Directorate of Food have been made respondents to the rule. They will have to comply with the rule within four weeks.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order on Wednesday after hearing a writ petition filed by Jatiya Krishak Samity General Secretary Aminul Islam Golap.

Advocate Firoz Alam appeared for the petitioner.

In his petition filed on August 18, Aminul Islam Golap said the government is supposed to purchase paddy and rice from farmers as per the Domestic Food Grain Procurement Policy 2017.

But it has been procuring paddy and rice from middlemen and godown owners in violation of the policy. Therefore, farmers are not getting fair prices of their paddy, he added.

The petitioner also said the farmers' community is getting no scope to sell their paddy/rice at the government-fixed rate. As a result, farmers have been incurring a huge loss.

As the respondents are not purchasing the paddy/rice directly from the peasants, the third party beneficiaries are taking different unlawful and mischievous opportunities to purchase the rice/paddy from the poor farmers at a lower rate, he pointed out.