New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) The Punjab government on Tuesday sought an early hearing in the Supreme Court on its interim plea seeking release of over Rs 1,000 crore urgently by the Centre on account of dues claimed by the state towards Rural Development Fund.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of Advocate General of Punjab, Gurminder Singh, that the plea needed to be heard keeping in mind the upcoming harvest season and the poor situation of ‘mandis’ in the state.
The harvesting season is starting and the infrastructure of ‘mandis’, where agricultural produce is being sold in Punjab, are in a dilapidated condition, the law officer said.
The plea of the state government was on the cause list for the day, but it was unlikely to be heard as the bench was hearing another part-heard matter, he said, and urged the CJI to accord primacy to it on future dates.
We will keep this in some higher position after other cases are heard, the CJI told the advocate general.
On September 18, the bench had said it will list for hearing the interim plea of the Punjab government.
The top court had on August 30 also assured the Bhagwant Mann-led government that the plea will be taken up September 2.
The state government has filed an interim application in a pending lawsuit against the Centre and has sought urgent release of over Rs 1,000 crore as an interim measure.
The Punjab government had in 2023 moved the top court alleging non-release of the Rural Development Fund (RDF) and withholding a portion of the market fee by the Centre. It claimed that the Centre owed Punjab over Rs 4,200 crore.
The plea said the RDF and market fee enabled the effective functioning of the procurement process.
The state government has the prerogative of determining the market fee and the RDF for the purposes of procurement of food grains as it was recognised under the Constitution, it said. PTI SJK SJK KSS KSS
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