A writ petition challenging the validity and legality of The Tea (Marketing) Control Order 2003 (TMCO), passed by the Central Government, has been filed in the Calcutta High Court.
More than 50 tea buyers, sellers and brokers are petitioners in the case. They sought an order from the court declaring TMCO 2003 to be ultra vires and illegal.
Moving the petition, on behalf of the petitioners, counsel Saktinath Mukherjee, prayed for an order to withdraw or cancel the order dated January 1, 2003, of the ministry of commerce and the circular dated January 6, 2003, issued by chairman of the Tea Board.
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The counsel further asked for an injunction restraining the concerned respondents from giving any effect to the January 1& 6 order and circular. The central government and the Tea Board opposed the petition.
Anindya Mitra, Aloke Bannerjee and Arunava Sarkar, counsels for Tea Board, said the Madras High Court had already dismissed a similar writ petition. Justice M H S Ansari will hear the petition again on February 10.
The petition stated TMCO 2003 was passed in supersession of Tea ( Marketing ) Control Order 1984. By virtue of the 2003 order, small buyers of tea would face discrimination and would be eliminated.
Auctions will lose their competitive edge, resulting in closure of small businesses. TMCO empowered the chairman of Tea Board without any guidance or condition to prescribe what percentage of tea had to be sold by manufacturers through public auction.
The order put unreasonable restrictions on freedom of trade and business contrary to the interest of general public, Mukherjee said.
He added the order empowered chairman of Tea Board to cancel or suspend registration of tea buyers on the ground of