Apex court rap to Haryana govt on food commission

THE HARYANA GOVERNMENT HAD EARLIER STATED IN AN AFFIDAVIT THAT THERE WAS HARDLY ANY WORK FOR THE STATE FOOD COMMISSION

CHANDIGARH: The Supreme Court has said it was pained to read an affidavit filed by the Haryana government stating there was hardly any work for the State Food Commission.

In an order last month, the apex court, which heard a petition filed to review the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 by the Central and state governments, said: “With such an attitude, it is very unlikely that any progress will ever be made either by Haryana or the State Food Commission in Haryana in the matter of food security. One can only feel sorry for the people in Haryana.”

It further said the importance of the State Food Commission cannot be minimised by the state government if the National Food Security Act is to be faithfully implemented.

The State Food Commission in Haryana was constituted in August 2014 by the erstwhile Congress government. However, the BJP government disbanded it in January 2015 and removed the chairman and members of the Commission.

The chairman and members subsequently petitioned the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stayed the operation of the order to disband the commission.

However, the state government did not provide any infrastructure including office, staff, budget to the commission.

The members of the commission then filed a contempt of court application which is listed for August 18 along with the main case.

“As far as Haryana is concerned, we were informed that although the State Food Commission had been constituted, it had not been provided with any infrastructure, office space or budget and it was apparently requested not to perform any function, with the result that it was compelled to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for relief,” the SC said.