The High Court (HC) on Monday said if the government entities like regulatory bodies, monitoring cells were active, the hoarders could not have the courage to stockpile the essential commodities for extra profits.
During the hearing on a writ petition the High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice S M Maniruzzaman also observed, “Laws, regulations and organisations, everything is there, but there is no implementation of those. If the mechanisms are activated, the hoarders will not get courage. It requires an effective initiative.”
The writ petition was filed seeking directive upon the concerned bodies of the government to form a monitoring cell and to formulate policies for controlling the price of Soybean oil in the market.
In the hearing Deputy Attorney General Pratikar Changma who appeared for the state said it would not be right for the court to issue a rule following the writ petition because the government has already taken some initiatives for controlling the market.
Then the court asked the state lawyer to show how they were defining the anti-competitive alliances. The law was enacted in 2012, however, there is no enforcement of the law yet, said the court.
In reply the state lawyer said, “The government is taking initiatives. The government is active and the market is already under control.”
In this perspective, the court addressing the state lawyer also said, “The Competition Act has suggested for the closure of monopoly business. However, the government is not formulating any rules to implement the suggestion. Unfortunately, there is no enforcement of the law. That has been happening all the time. If you were strict, the market could not be such unrestraint.”
“If they took some advance steps, the people would not have been suffered. This is because the monopoly business has been a hostage in the hands of a particular group. However, the law has suggested the formation of a regulatory body to stop this. If there was a regulatory body, the petitioners might not have to come to the court. We want this body to be formed,” added the court.
Mr Changma said, “An initiative is under process to form a regulatory body for controlling the market. The government is working. The government is taking measures so that no one can control the market monopoly. The government has taken initiative to form a task force to control the market.”
After completing the hearing the High Court has fixed Tuesday for further proceeding on the petition.
Earlier on March 6, three Supreme Court lawyers, Monir Hossain, Syed Mohidul Kabir and Mohammad Ullah, filed the writ petition seeking HC directives to form a monitoring cell and to formulate policies for controlling the price of Soybean oil in the market.
They submitted the petition as a public interest litigation based on a published report over the recent price hike of Soybean oil.
The three lawyers on March 3 brought the report to the attention of the High Court bench for its direction over the issue. Then the court asked them to file a writ petition with it and accordingly the lawyers filed the writ petition.
