Jute balers plan to move court to challenge Centre's stock limit order

Kolkata: Raw jute suppliers on Wednesday said they are planning to move a court to challenge the Jute Commissioner's (JC) order that capped the maximum stock holding limit at 500 quintals to prevent hoarding of the commodity.

Jute Balers' Association will go ahead with their proposed suspension of trading activities from November 23, which may disrupt manufacturing of jute bags at mills due to non-availability of raw material.In a bid to prevent hoarding, the Jute Commissioner had capped raw jute holding at 1,500 quintals on own or third party account in August and on November 6, it asked traders to bring the stock limit down to 500 quintals in the next 10 days.

The balers' body, in a notice to its members, said: "The JC office can issue such an order only in case of unavailability of raw jute and not on any other ground. At present, there is no shortage of raw jute in mills. This order has left us with no other option but to challenge it in a court of law." "As per the feedback and inputs received from agencies, it is impossible and unviable to run a godown with a baling press machine with 500 quintals," the notice read. The Centre's order came in the backdrop of a price surge of the commodity to an unprecedented level of over Rs 6,000 per quintal as against the MSP (minimum support price) of Rs 4,225.

The traders' body further said its members that in view of the current situation arising out of the JC order, all balers and suppliers are advised to bring down their stock to 500 quintals by stopping fresh purchases and offloading excess stocks.