SHILLONG: A petition came up in the High Court of Meghalaya filed by the association of building contractors and suppliers of construction materials, airing the grievance that there is no control over the price of cement in Meghalaya though the quality of cement is subject to the Cement (Quality Control) Order, 1995.
Later, the petition was withdrawn to air the concerns first before the government as suggested by the court.
According to the petitioner, in the absence of any control from the government, the cement manufacturers are randomly increasing the price of cement without any basis and rationale.
The petitioner sought the intervention of the court in including cement in the list of essential commodities.
However, the court found two fundamental shortcomings in the petition — one is that cement manufacturers were not made party to the petition, and second, the petitioner did not serve any notice or representation to the authorities concerned stating its views and seeking the necessary relief.
Following this, senior counsel for the petitioner, S. Chakrawarty, made a submission that the petitioner may be permitted to withdraw the petition, but with liberty to take recourse to the appropriate proceedings in accordance with law, including serving notice or making a representation to the concerned authorities and further to take recourse to the appropriate remedies in accordance with law, if necessary.
The counsels of both the Centre and the State did not have any objection.
Later, the petitioner was permitted to withdraw the petition.
