The High Court has ruled that the government should not force anyone to consume the wheat bought from Brazil.
The government insist that the wheat purchased for Tk 4 billion from Brazil is ‘fit for human consumption’.
The Brazilian wheat has already been supplied to police, BGB, Ansar units and to various dealers and mills.
It has also been provided for Test relief and Food-for-Work programmes.
The High Court ruled that the government should take back the Brazilian wheat if anyone who received it wants to return it.
The High Court’s order came on Wednesday after it resolved a plea on the issue.
The bench of justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman observed that though the food department’ report says it’s fit for human consumption, but the government cannot force anyone to accept it.
“Based on the food department’s report, the court said that the wheat was perhaps okay and fit for human consumption,” said Deputy Attorney General Tapash Kimar Biswas.
Bangladesh imported 200,000 tonnes of wheat from Brazil and a recent report ran by a daily says it was “rotten and unfit for human consumption.”
A petition was filed with the High Court seeking a probe on the matter, when court ordered the government to clarify whether the wheat was suitable for human consumption.
Following the court’s order the Directorate General of Food Department filed a report in which it said the wheat was fit for human consumption.
The Food Ministry and the Directorate General of Food were playing ‘hide and seek’ with ‘rotten wheat’ bought for Tk 4 bn from Brazil, a newspaper recently reported.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered a probe committee be formed but that has not yet happened.
Critics demanded that Food Minister Qamrul Islam resign over the ‘bad wheat’, but he presented two reports to prove the wheat was fine.
On Jun 29, Pavel Miah, a lawyer, filed a petition using information available in newspaper reports.
He demanded the wheat be tested by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute.
He also pleaded for a probe by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to see if the wheat was ‘below standard’.
After hearing the matter the next day, the High Court told to clarify the government within 72 hours whether the wheat was edible.
On Jun 5, the food department’s report was submitted to the court.
It cited previously conducted tests by the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Agriculture Research Institute and the Dhaka University, which had cleared the wheat as fit for consumption.
The report also said that the food ministry collected 57 samples from warehouses across the country and tested it in the food department’s laboratory, which also found it suitable for human consumption.
It also said that out of the 205,128 tonnes of the Brazilian wheat, 174,926 tonnes have been distributed over the last four months.
Source: The Daily Star
