Heads roll as PAMRA dissolves market committees

While it is looking increasingly likely that the inflationary wave in the country will not recede anytime soon, the issue of artificial increase in prices is combatable but was a constant thorn in the outgoing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s side; now the same challenge awaits the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government.

In a move seen as taking up arms against the artificial increase in commodity prices in Punjab, the Punjab Agricultural Marketing Regulatory Authority (PAMRA) has dissolved 51 market committees in the province citing their failure to control artificial increase in food prices and eradicate corruption in the auction of agricultural commodities.

Chairman PAMRA, Naveed Bhandar, while talking to The Express Tribune about the notification informed that the main function of market committees is to protect the economic rights of farmers and to deliver food items to the people through transparent auction of agricultural commodities but they have failed to do this.

“For the last one year we have been instructing the chairmen and members of the market committees to improve their performance but the affairs of the committees have not improved.” Having realised that the committees were not up to the task, PAMRA first issued show cause notices as per law, and then held personal hearings; after which the committees were dissolved, as per Bhandar.

With the new PAMRA notification in force, hundreds of people appointed as chairmen of the market committees by the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) have been sent packing. The Express Tribune learnt that another 65 market committees are expected to be dissolved in the next few days and that for now the District Agriculture Officers (DAOs) have been appointed as administrators of market committees. It is pertinent to note that back in 2021, former prime minister Imran Khan ordered immediate dissolution of market committees after alleging that they were responsible for hikes in prices of agricultural commodities.

On February 4, 2021, the Punjab government had dissolved all the market committees through a notification, but due to legal flaws in the government notification, many chairmen had obtained restraining orders from the court. Subsequently recognizing the legal complexities, the Department of Agricultural Marketing withdrew its February 4 notification on November 2, 2021, and reinstated the market committees. However, a few months later, the former prime minister once again issued directions to dissolve the market committees, after which the Agriculture Marketing Department issued show cause notices to the chairmen and members of all the market committees on February 3, 2022.

However, due to the change in the political situation, the former chief minister Usman Buzdar led government did not issue a notification de-notifying the chairmen. Now according to sources privy to the situation, the current government intends to constitute new market committees by next month. However, the government’s steadfastness might hit a roadblock as the de-notified chairmen of the dissolved committees have decided to challenge the PAMRA notification in the Lahore High Court. Amir Taqi, the central leader of the group comprising the chairmen of the market committees who were let go, said that the allegations and charges against the committees were baseless and they were being made scapegoats for failure to curb inflation.

“It is the responsibility of the district administration to curb inflation. We are going to challenge the orders to dissolve the market committees in court,” Taqi told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2022.