Make jute available at notified rate or revise price: HC directs Jute Commissioner

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the Jute Commissioner (JC) to take steps so that mills can get the golden fibre at the notified rate of Rs 6,500 per quintal but review the price if it cannot be adhered to.

The Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) moved the court around three months after the Jute Commissioner's Office, which looks after orderly development and

promotion of the industry in India, fixed a price cap of Rs 6500 per quintal in September last year.

IJMA had claimed that millers were not getting raw jute below Rs 7,000 a quintal leading to a crisis.

"The Jute Commissioner is directed to take positive steps and adopt stringent measures to implement the notified rate. But despite all efforts, if it appears that the notified rate cannot be adhered to, then the Jute Commissioner shall review and re-fix the rate taking into consideration the relevant factors as mentioned in the Control Order, 2016," Justice Amrita Sinha said in the order.

Reacting to the court order, IJMA chairman Raghavendra Gupta said the Jute Commissioner should now ensure that raw jute was available at the notified price or revise it.

We will wait for the Jute Commissioner's action, he said. In the order, the court said the Jute Commissioner ought to appreciate that fixing a rate which is not feasible serves no purpose.

"As the jute mills are legally bound to supply the jute bags to the government for which they are reimbursed at the notified rate they have no other alternative but to sell the finished products at a loss. With sustained losses the mills are bound to close down and the already dying industry will perish in no time," it said.