Flour mills can buy wheat but not sell it, SHC told

The wheat procurement policy guidelines allow flour mills to procure and retain a specific quantity of wheat for the production of wheat products, but trading of wheat by flour mills is not permitted, the provincial food secretary told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday.

Filing comments on a petition of the Flour Mills Association against the government’s ban on the movement of wheat from one district to another district of the province, and to Karachi in particular, the food secretary said the provincial government had arranged 100,000 metric tons of imported wheat from the federal government to meet the flour shortage in the city.

He said flour mills had lifted the imported Passco (Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation) wheat from April 15 to May 30, and it was evidently clear that there was no bar on wheat purchase by flour mills, and Karachi’s demand had been adequately met, which was corroborated by the fact that there was no flour shortage in the city.

He added that flour mills are allowed to purchase and store a specific quantity of wheat from the declared godowns for manufacturing wheat products, but they are not allowed to engage in the trading of wheat.

He also said flour mills are not allowed to purchase wheat from the open market, according to the policy formulated by the provincial government.

He added that flour mills’ demand to purchase wheat from the open market without a valid licence under the West Pakistan Foodgrains (Licensing Control) Order 1957 is completely misconceived because selling and storing wheat in bulk quantities without a licence or permission from the authority concerned is an illegal act.

He further said the government is duty-bound to ensure that wheat being a basic necessity of life is made available to the public, and the foodstuffs control act confers powers to control supply for equitable distribution and availability at fair price, regulate its storage and use of consumption, and manage trade and commerce related to foodstuffs.

He added that the government reserves the right of first refusal and exclusively purchase wheat from growers so that its availability and price in the market is not manipulated by the speculative market forces.

The food secretary said that if the sale and purchase of wheat, which is a staple food, is left to the market forces, its availability at affordable and reasonable prices would be compromised.

He added that the Wheat Procurement Policy Guidelines 2022-23 were approved by the provincial cabinet to provide for the purchase of wheat from local growers of the respective districts so that the interests of local growers and farmers are safeguarded. The food department requested the court to dismiss the petition as devoid of merit.

After taking the comments of the food department on record, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed adjourned the hearing until June 26.

On May 23 the petitioners had challenged the notification of the food department and the SOP for the supply of wheat to flour mills, saying that both the notification and the SOP were without any backing of the law. They said that the impugned action was not approved by the provincial cabinet.

The Flour Mills Association and other petitioners said that 92 flour mills were operating in Karachi, but since the Karachi Division was not a wheat growing or procurement area, flour mills operating there were exclusively dependent on the supply of wheat from other districts of the province and other provinces of the country.

Their counsels Mian Raza Rabbani and Zeeshan Abdullah said that the petitioners’ members purchased wheat from the open market and the provincial government, but the government invoked Section 3 of the Sindh Food Stuff (Control) Act and fixed the price of wheat at Rs3,000 per 40 kilograms.

They said the government also fixed the procurement target at 1.4 million metric tonnes to avoid any shortage. They said the food minister informed the assembly that the target of 1.4 million metric tonnes for wheat procurement had been met, and the government had also imported 400,000 metric tonnes of wheat.

The counsels said that there was no justification after the statement of the food minister for continuing with the ban on the inter-district and inter-provincial movement of wheat.

They said the food department, through the commissioners of different divisions of the province, had unlawfully restricted and prevented the inter-district and inter-provincial movement of wheat.

They also said the government has issued a notification imposing Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in districts and divisions, resulting in police pickets having been put up, and officers and staff of the food department having been deployed without the support of any law.

These officials stop and/or impound vehicles carrying wheat bags to Karachi Division, they added. The counsels said that restrictions, in any manner whatsoever, on trade, commerce and intercourse throughout Pakistan is in violation of Article 151 of the 1973 constitution.

The court was requested to declare that the petitioners have the right to procure wheat for their flour mills from any and all districts of Sindh and other parts of the country, and as such any ban on the movement of wheat, inter-district and inter-provincial, is illegal.

They requested the court to direct the respondent to lift the ban, direct or indirect, imposed on the inter-district movement of wheat in the province, in particular to Karachi Division, and allow the inter-provincial movement of wheat in accordance with Article 151 of the constitution.