SC upholds HC order on Brazil wheat

The Supreme Court today upheld a High Court order on the authorities to take back the Brazilian wheat if any department desires to return the grains.

The government also cannot force anyone to accept the imported wheat, that the High Court had considered unfit for consumption.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order after rejecting a plea moved by the government challenging the High Court verdict.

According to media reports, the Directorate General of Food early this year bought 2 lakh tonnes of substandard Brazilian wheat.

Sources said the food office already distributed over 1.5 lakh tonnes of the wheat for the safety net schemes -- including Food for Work, Test Relief -- and also as ration for the police.

Police complained of low quality grains, prompting the food ministry to collect samples from district warehouses for testing, said ministry officials.

After testing samples of wheat in its own laboratories last month, the food ministry claimed the grain was fit for human consumption and its quality “conforms to the contract specifications.”

However, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) on June 28 said all the samples supplied to it “contained higher amount of shrunken and broken kernels than the limit stated in the specification.”

After today’s Supreme Court order, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that the government can now distribute the remaining wheat to any organisation if it is willing to take it.