Nitish govt revokes its order on PDS licence; Co-operators hail their unity

Nitish volte-face on the issue of suspending PDS licence to PACS in Bihar, is an example of how co-operators can help each other by uniting strongly around a cause.

Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has bowed over its decision of suspending the Public Distribution License of over 3,500 PACS. The state government has withdrawn its decision after the matter went to the court and the co-operators of all hues pitched in together to fight the draconian decision of the state.

Cooperative leaders including Biscomaun Chairman Dr Sunil Kumar Singh as well as the PACCs representatives see this as a major victory for cooperators associated with PACCs in general and the cooperative movement in particular.

Sharing his reaction on this development Biscomaun Chairman and RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh said “Bihar’s Food Supply Department had suspended the PDS license of PACCs in April 2020 by falsely reading the rules to provide benefit to the private PDS shopkeepers. Cooperators of the state had launched an agitation against the government orders”.

Sunil added that ”In this context, a writ petition was filed in the Hon’ble High Court, where the state government said in an affidavit that it would restore the PDS in the month of July under any circumstances.

“There are 8400 PACCs and trade boards in Bihar and a demand was made on behalf of all cooperators, to give PDS licence to all the PACCs and trade boards in Bihar “, Sunil underlined.

Meanwhile, the direction in this regard has been sent to all the districts and in several districts PACCs have been allowed to run the PDS shops. For the first time, the government had suspended the PDS license of PACCs.

Several hearings took place in the high court. Bihar’s PACCs Union Chairman Ajay Kumar Gupta said the order by the government was issued in a hurry only to benefit the private vendors for their political interest.

Earlier, Biscomaun Director Ram Kalewar Singh had demanded that the government should withdraw the order for suspension. He had written a letter to the Chief Minister requesting the govt. to withdraw the decision in the interest of farmers and PACCs.

Eager to revive the co-operative movement in the state by holding several co-op conferences over a period of time, Biscomaun Chairman, who was recently elevated to legislative Council says that the revoking of the order shows that the “days of co-ops have come.”