POOJA RICE MILLS Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This batch of writ petitions has been filed at the instance of different rice mill operators questioning the decision of the Food Corporation of India and the State Department in branding the petitioners as 'defaulter rice mills' and using such characterisation as justification for supplying paddy for custom milling. They have sought for a direction to the respondents to reserve specified quantity of paddy out of the paddy stock lying with the State Agencies and the Food Corporation of India to award to them the contract of custom milling of the paddy stock.

(2.) The dispute has come about in the matter of issue of contracts by the State Agencies and the Food Corporation of India to rice mills owners for milling the paddy supplied by the State and the Food Corporation of India at a contract price and to secure them back for distribution by the State Agency or the Food Corporation to public through public distribution and for sale or export. The decision to blacklist certain rice mill owners and to brand them as defaulter rice mills came to be taken as a sequel to a bitter experience in 2004, when the problem was seen in the proportion of a large scam when the paddy hulled at the rice mills and delivered back to the Food Corporation and State Agencies, were found to be of non-merchantable quality for human consumption. Three types of defects were reportedly noted. One category was beyond the limits permissible under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA). The second category was when the quality of rice was Below the Rejection Limit (BRL) and the third category was a Mixed Stock (MS). It so happened that when a CBI investigation had been ordered, it was found that about 50 persons running different rice mills had supplied PFA Category, 182 persons had supplied during the relevant period rice that was in BRL Category and 39 persons had been guilty of supplying the mixed stock. All these names had been tabulated and the respective defects noted against them, so that in future they would not offer the contract to the very same rice mills. This was a decision taken in public interest to ensure that the ultimate consumer shall not a recipient of non-merchantable quality of rice.

(3.) The relevant Scheme framed by the Government to give effect to blacklisting the defaulter rice mill owners laid down as follows: