In the wake of soaring onion prices, a PIl has been filed in the Delhi High Court blaming the Central Government policies and inaction to curb black marketing of the staple. The PIl also questions the Delhi Government as to why it reduced the prices of onions in the Capital instead of checking illegal traders responsible for the price hike.
The petition filed by Poonam Jain, a social worker, through advocate Sugriv Dubey, said that the common man is suffering at the hands of the government as it is not taking any measure to curb hoarding which has caused the scarcity of onion in the market. It accused the Centre and the city government of turning a blind eye to illegal trade and not revising its faulty export policy that has caused the prices of the edible bulb to hover around Rs70 to Rs90 per kilogram.
The petition also blamed the governments of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where onions are found the most, for encouraging hoarding and black marketing in the area to benefit the farmers of their States. The petition seeks directives from the court to the governments to control the rising price of onions and the illicit practices causing the artificial inflation.
The PIl also targets the government for misleading the common man as far as prices are concerned because in wholesale markets the staple is available at subsidized rates.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Vibhu Bakhru is likely to hear the PIl on Thursday.