NAFED under scanner after officials turn defaulters

Delhi high court has issued a notice to the Union government after 20 out of 25 directors of the board of national agricultural marketing federation (NAFED) were listed in the category of defaulters.

A division bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Manmohan issued the notice directing it to file a detailed reply by January 19, the next date of hearing.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation, alleging NAFED of misusing public fund.

“Out of the 25 board of directors, only five can function as a director
as they are not defaulters and the rest are as they have not cleared their dues and are not making the payment even now,” the application stated.

The application further stated that the directors have taken a decision to sell the immovable properties of the board and have put properties of Mumbai and Maharashtra at stake.

“These costly properties would be sold by the directors at throwaway prices as no other member was called or told about such a step, thereby resulting in huge losses to NAFED,” the petition stated.

On the last date of hearing, the court had asked the
Centre to frame guidelines for the restructuring of NAFED and stop embezzlement of public funds by officials of the cooperative.

“We express our anguish at the way public money has been siphoned off. The grant has been misused without security. You must regulate the grant itself,” the bench told the government.

The court was informed that at least five FIRs have been registered against the officials involved in the embezzlement of grants.

The bench took suo moto cognizance over a reference from a single judge stating that every day petitions were being filed with allegations against Nafed officials about the misuse of public funds.

Despite making gross profit for last many years, NAFED, which takes up market initiatives for supporting farmers on behalf of the central government, is facing difficulty in sustaining its operations because of huge losses incurred in tie-up business.