Brazil wheat
Stop further distribution, SC asks govt
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday directed the government to stop further distribution of the wheat imported from Brazil, as serious questions have been raised about its quality. The apex court also extended its stay on a High Court verdict that ordered the government not to force anyone to accept the substandard wheat imported from Brazil by spending Tk. 400 crore.
In its order, the apex court said the remaining wheat will not be distributed to any organisation or department until further order of the court.
The four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, came up with the order during a hearing on a government petition that sought a stay on the High Court order.
In response to a government plea, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division on July 9 stayed a High Court verdict that directed the government to take back the imported Brazilian wheat which was distributed across the country but returned for being sub-standard.
Earlier on July 8, the HC had said if anyone, any department or organisation wanted to return the distributed wheat, the government was bound to accept it without any question. The HC had also said that the government could not force any department or organisation to procure the remaining portion of the imported wheat if they were unwilling to do so.
The HC bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul-Haque and Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman issued the directives after disposing of a writ petition that challenged the legality of the imported wheat by branding it as substandard.
The HC bench, however, maintained that test reports had revealed that the imported wheat was fit for human consumption. A bulk of the imported wheat has been consumed already and there was no report of illness or causalities that would make the wheat unfit for human consumption. But doubts on its quality persisted as insects were found in the wheat, the court added.
According to food ministry sources, the Food Directorate has already distributed over 2.5 lakh tonnes of the wheat for the governments safety net schemes such as food-for-work and test relief as well as for ration for the police.
On June 28, BCSIR had reported that all the supplied samples contained higher amount of shrunken and broken kernels than the supplied specifications. It had also stated that the damaged grain percentage was also higher in all samples, except the wheat collected from Kurigram, Narail, Gaibandha and Sirajganj.
On June 29, the HC took up a writ petition challenging the legality of the import and distribution of sub-standard wheat from Brazil.
On July 5, the DG of the Food Directorate certified that the 2.5 lakh tonnes of wheat imported from Brazil was consumable as the samples were found to be within the admissible limits set in the contract specification.
The import cost of the wheat was around USD 46 million or Tk. 355 crore. A food ministry official told The Independent 90 per cent of the payment has already been made.
Barrister Mahab Uddin Khokon, counsel for the petitioner, yesterday said that the apex court has extended the time of the stay order for two weeks as they did not get the copy of the full verdict. He added the court has also asked the government not to distribute the remaining amount of the imported wheat among organisations or departments until further order of the court.
