NAKUL KISHOR MERLI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There are two writ petitions filed as Public Interest Litigations (PILs) by the farmers of Odisha. While the farmers of the Districts of Cuttack and Kendrapara came forward, more than two decades ago, to file OJC No.17037 of 2001, the farmers of Bolangir District in western Odisha came forward in 2002 to file OJC No.3721 of 2002.

(2.) The CONTC No.2932 of 2012 was filed by the Petitioners in OJC No.3721 of 2002 complaining of failure to implement the interim judgment dtd. 25/4/2002 and the detailed order dtd. 13/12/2004 of this Court in these writ petitions.

(3.) The central concern in both these writ petitions, at the time they were filed, was about the "unholy combination/nexus of the Rice Millers, Storage agents, Civil Supply Officials and Officials of Food Corporation of India (FCI) in paddy procurement." According to the Petitioners, as a result, "there is wide distress sale of paddy all over the State, which has seriously affected the poor farmers." Therefore, the prayers in both the writ petitions are identical. Apart from asking for an investigation into the matter by an independent agency "to find out the remedial measures" so as to protect public interest and a CBI investigation against "the persons, who are involved in the corrupt practice.", the central prayer is for a direction to the FCI "to procure the paddy directly from the farmers instead of rice from the millers as per the provisions of the food policies."