Black marketing: Court rap for no price cap, shoddy probe

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Arun Kumar Garg, while hearing the bail pleas of Matrix Cellular’s CEO Gaurav Khanna and its vice president Gaurav Suri, also came down heavily on the police for arresting the accused without any evidence.

A Delhi court on Tuesday questioned the authorities for arresting people importing and selling oxygen concentrators at a rate higher than the MRP, saying that the government had itself not capped the prices of these products.

The court said that the government had itself not capped the prices of products like oxygen concentrators. (HT Photo)

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Arun Kumar Garg, while hearing the bail pleas of Matrix Cellular’s CEO Gaurav Khanna and its vice president Gaurav Suri, also came down heavily on the police for arresting the accused without any evidence.

“Why should the forces of demand-supply not apply where the government has left it... government has not regulated. Is doing business an offence?” the court remarked. The magistrate said the maximum charge that can be levelled was of unfair trade practices.

The judge said that arrests should not be made to appease the high court, which ordered action. He noted that the “state has yet not regulated” the price despite a direction by the high court to cap the prices.

The court pulled up police for “a pathetic” investigation. “First you (police) arrest and then start investigation. It’s a pathetic situation…We will not be instrumental in harassing somebody,” it remarked.

Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, appearing for the state, told the court that the accused “hatched a conspiracy” to illegally make money. The accused’s counsels, meanwhile , argued that the prices were fixed after considering costs incurred. They said that all duties were paid in the import of the concentrators. The court reserved its order for Wednesday.