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Delhi HC disposes of plea on onions

The Delhi high court today disposed of a public-interest petition on rising prices in the capital after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government said it had taken all possible steps, including banning the export of some vegetables and placing their import under the open general licence, to augment availability.

A division bench comprising Justices Y K Sabharwal and K S Gupta said, "In view of the [Centre's] affidavit and the earlier affidavit of the Delhi government, the writ petition is disposed of."

The affidavit, filed by A L Makhijani, under-secretary in the food ministry, said "the government has taken all possible steps to control the price of onions, like supplying the vegetable at subsidised rates, banning exports, placing its import under OGL, and abolishing import duty".

The price of onions, which touched Rs 45 a kilo in Delhi in October, has started declining and approaching the normal level with the arrival of the new kharif crop in November, the affidavit said.

The Delhi government had on November 3 given a clean chit to traders and businessmen and refused to take the blame for the steep rise in onion prices, saying the shortfall was caused by the failure of two consecutive crops.

The affidavits were filed in response to the All-India Lawyers' Union's petition.

The government said the supply of some other vegetables like potato, tomato, brinjal, okra, snake gourd, cauliflower, and cabbage was also affected by crop failure due to heavy downpours in July and October.

Pointing out that the total requirement of onion in the capital is 500 to 600 metric tonnes a day, the affidavit said arrivals of the vegetable in the wholesale Azadpur market were between 100 and 300 tonnes a day from August to October, a daily shortfall of 300 to 400 tonnes.

Refuting allegations that the government had made no attempt to stop exports despite the crop failure, Makhijani said the minimum export price of onion was raised four times between July and October, causing exports to decline.

The government did not ban exports outright as it anticipated a new crop by the end of September. But that too was delayed by more than a month by adverse climatic conditions.

The government then imposed a total ban on export of onions on October 14. Simultaneously, it decided to import 10,000 tonnes of onion on a need-based basis on the government's account.

Subsequently, the import of onions was placed under the OGL and import duty was abolished.

Makhijani also told the court that the Union minister for food and civil supplies had written to all chief ministers of states and Union territories on July 16 last year to take effective and punitive measures against speculators, black-marketeers and profiteers.

UNI

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