The Hindu Business Line : HC reserves order on vacating TMCO stay

THE Madras High Court on Friday reserved orders on the petition filed by the Union Government and the Tea Board seeking to vacate the two-week interim stay of the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 2003. The stay was granted on a petition filed by the Tea Buyers Association of Coimbatore.

After hearing arguments of the counsels of the Union Government and the buyers association, Mr Justice P. Sathasivam said he would give his orders early next week. He, however, allowed the petition filed by Indcoserve, representing small tea growers of Coimbatore, to implead themselves in the main writ petition.

Meanwhile, Upasi and the Nilgiris Bought Leaf Manufacturers' Association have also got themselves impleaded in the case.

On behalf of the small tea growers, Mr G. Masilamani, senior advocate, contended that the regulatory order issued by the Tea Board was essential to ensure fair price of tea sold in the auctions. Their association, representing 20,000 small growers were equally interested in selling tea at fair price to the consumers through the public distribution system.

It was not correct to say that the buyers were outside the purview of the Tea Act, as contended by the petitioner. He said the interim stay of the TMCO should be vacated to render justice to the small growers.

Opposing vacation of the interim stay, Mrs Nalini Chidambaram, senior counsel for the petitioner, charged that the three `big' players in the auction, HLL, Tata and AVT, were keen to play a dominant part in the auction process. The Tea Board, she said, was also behind them in their ``game'' to corner a lion's share of the tea auctioned. It could not be accepted that the buyers should get registered so as to participate in the auction.

The TMCO was issued at the behest of these three big companies. The interim stay of the order should continue, she pleaded.

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