The Delhi High Court on Wednesday disposed of a plea highlighting the plight of the residents of a Noida neighbourhood, who are aggrieved by the closure of the Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables shops in the area.
The Division Bench led by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, while disposing of the instant petition, asked the Centre, the National Dairy Development Board and Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Private Limited to treat the petition as a representation and decide the same expeditiously.
The Bench underscored thus:
“We hereby direct the concerned respondent authorities to look into the grievances ventilated by the petitioner as stated in the memo of the petition and will treat the petition as a representation and will decide the claim of the petitioner in accordance with law, rules, regulations and government policies applicable to the facts of the case as expeditiously as possible and practicable, preferably within a period of eight weeks.”
Liberty was however reserved with the petitioner trust to approach the court again in case of non-compliance of the order of the court. Advocate Atul Batra, representing the Mother Dairy body, submitted that the grievances ventilated in the petition will be looked into by it and the needful will be done at the earliest.
The Bench asked him to look into the grievances of the public. “Public has good faith in you. That is a credit to you,” the Bench orally stated. The instant petition was filed by Fight For Human Rights Trust through Advocate K.R. Chitra.
The plea pointed out that a Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Shop located in Sector 19 of Noida was permanently shut down in September this year without any intimation, causing grave hardship to the local residents in and around the shop in procuring daily needs of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The plea asserted that such unjustified and unwarranted closure of the said shop has caused the residents of the locality “untold misery, harassment, monetary loss, and difficulty in procuring their daily needs of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables at reasonable prices which is their fundamental right to life and liberty under the Constitution of India”.
It is highlighted in the petition that a representation was made before the registered office of Mother Dairy on October 19, 2021, but the same has not been acted upon. The plea thereby, sought directions for immediately making the shop functional.
In addition, pointing out the malafide practices followed by the officials of the said shop in the form of selling decayed and rotten fruits and vegetables at exorbitant prices, while the same was functional, the plea prayed for fixing the rates at which fruits and vegetables may be sold by the outlet keeping in view the fact that Mother Dairy was established to cater to the needs of the common man for procuring fresh fruits & vegetables at reasonable prices.