Agriculture secy told to appear in person to explain vacant post of supply and price bureau DG for 10 years

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the provincial agriculture secretary, and supply and price department to apprise the court as to why a regular appointment of the Bureau of Supply and Prices director general had not been appointed for last the 10 years.

The direction came on a petition seeking enforcement of laws pertaining to the control of hoarding and black market of essential commodities in the province.

The high court on a previous hearing had directed a provincial law officer to file a statement with regard to the vacant posts of the director general, additional secretary and director of the bureau of supply and pricing registration authority and whether some additional charges had been given to other officers as stop gap arrangements or not.

An additional advocate general Sindh referred to a notification issued on March 19, 2010, whereby the bureau of supply secretary was allowed to hold the ex-officio charge of the director general of the Bureau of Supply and Prices.

The petitioner, M Tariq Mansoor, and intervenor Imran Shahzad submitted that regular appointment of the director general had not been made for the last 10 years, and other posts of the secretary, additional secretary and director supply of the bureau of supply, pricing and registration under the Sindh Registration of Godown Act were also vacant.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar observed that when the sanctioned post was available, it must be filled within a reasonable time rather than allowing a person to hold charge for 10 years as ex-officio.

The high court observed that it was against the basic structure of civil servant laws and the provincial law officer did not give any justifiable reason as to why a regular incumbent had not been appointed so far.

The SHC directed the agriculture supply and price department secretary to appear in person and explain to the court why a regular appointment of the director general had not been appointed for the last 10 years. The court adjourned the hearing till October 13.

The petitioner had submitted in the petition that several laws to check and control the hoarding and black market of essential commodities including Sindh Registration of Godown Act, Hoarding and Black Market Act 1948 and Sindh Essential Commodities Price Control & Prevention of Profiting and Hoarding Act 2005 were promulgated time to time by the provincial government but the same were not being enforced in letter and spirit.

He had said the Sindh Registration of Godown Act 1995 was promulgated some 25 years back but could not be enforced properly, as a result of which the citizens were facing artificial crises and shortage of essential commodities such as tomatoes, onion, sugar and wheat, and became victims of black markets, hoarding and profiteering by unscrupulous elements.

He had stated in the petition that the Karachi Essential Article (price control and anti-hoarding) Act 1953 was enacted for regulating the possession, distribution and sale of essential commodities in Karachi division but unfortunately the same was not enforced in letter and spirit. It was submitted that due to the lack of enforcement of essential commodities’ prices and their distribution, the people were compelled to purchase them at higher rates without any check and control by the provincial and federal governments, which were supposed to ensure the supply of those commodities on notified prices.

The high court was requested in the petition to call record from the provincial government with regard to the enforcement of the Sindh Registration of Godown Act and other laws pertaining to essential commodities, and direct the government to ensure the sale of essential commodities at notified rates in the province. The SHC directed federal and provincial law officers to file comments on what efforts had been taken for the implementation of such laws.