FCI can't act unreasonably, arbitrarily: Punjab and Haryana High Court

Saurabh Malik

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Chandigarh, April 29

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) cannot be permitted to act unreasonably and arbitrarily. The ruling came in a case where Haryana State Warehousing Corporation permitted a miller to get the paddy milled from a nearby concern following breakdown of its machinery. But the FCI insisted it could not pick “what has not been milled by the petitioner on its premises”.

Describing the action as “wholly unjustified”, Justice Jaishree Thakur asserted the corporations were required to act in the best interest of all parties concerned. The assertion came on a petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents by Shiv Shankar Rice Mills.

Justice Thakur asserted the question for consideration before the then Bench was whether the FCI was being unreasonable in not accepting custom milled rice (CMR) only because 7,500 tonne of paddy was found short during stock’s physical verification on the premises of the petitioner’s mill though the shifting of remaining stock to another mill for milling was within the FCI’s knowledge?