Sky high prices: SC forms committees to check flour price

Asks official how a small family can survive on minimum wage.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the food security commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to prepare a table to show how a small family can survive within the minimum wage of an unskilled worker.

“On the previous date of hearing we had noted that the minimum wage of an unskilled worker in the four provinces is Rs7,000 to Rs9,000.”

“Dr Shakeel Ahmed Khan was, therefore, asked to prepare a table to show how a family comprising two adults and two minors would be able to survive with dignity as per Article 14 of the constitution within the minimum wage,” said the three-judge bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, in its order over an application by Jamaat-i-Islami Secretary General Liaquat Baloch regarding the increase in the price of flour in the country.

The bench also constituted four committees, comprising federal and provincial government law officers, to check the price and availability of flour throughout the country.

During the hearing, Taufiq Asif, the counsel for the applicant, recommended that a sound basis for ‘on-spot’ determinations need to be made as regards the price of flour and the price at which generally it is available in different parts of the country.

“This suggestion is reasonable and has the support of all the law officers. In the circumstances, four committees are constituted… The mandate of these committees will be to make on-spot checks for the purpose of assisting us in ascertaining the price/availability of atta/flour in the context of enforcement of the fundamental rights”, the order says.

“When we are an agricultural country then the government should ensure the supply of wheat everywhere,” Justice Khawaja said, asking whether everything in the country would be done after the intervention of the apex court.

The court also observed that there is a general opinion amongst all law officers that an effort is required to ensure that the minimum nutritional needs of the citizens are met.

“To ensure this, the minimum standard prescribed for daily calorie intake, prescribed by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, government of Pakistan is maintained for every single citizen of Pakistan. Dr Shakeel ur Rehman has pointed out that the Pakistan standard for minimum daily intake of calories is 2,350 calories for one person,” the order further says.

Likewise, Additional Attorney General Pakistan Atiq Shah submitted a report regarding the price of flour, as the input from all four provinces was also mentioned in it.

The bench, however, observed that the report is incomplete as it does not contain relevant information and statistics which enable the court to ascertain if indeed Articles 9 and 14 are being implemented by the citizens of the country.

It directed the law officers of the federal and provincial government to submit a complete consolidated report which should also include relevant statistical data aimed at demonstrating that whether the Article 9 and 14 are being met or not.

Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, amicus curiae in this matter, said that wheat is being smuggled in Afghanistan, and the flour mill owners buying wheat on cheap prices hold it with mala fide intention. He also narrated the miserable condition of people in the province of Balochistan. The hearing of the case is adjourned until April 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2014.