Govt wary of NAC food Bill draft by Ravish Tiwari

During a meeting between Union Food Minister K V Thomas and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday, apprehensions were reportedly expressed regarding the National Advisory Council (NAC) coming out with its own version of the food security Bill. The government has been in the process of drafting the proposed Bill based on the recommendations of Sonia Gandhi-led NAC.

While the meeting was essentially a consultation between the two ministers over various aspects of the proposed legislation, the NAC’s draft emerged as one of the major issues, sources said.

It is learnt there was an unease over several provisions in the NAC’s draft, such as the issue of appointing district-level grievance officers.

According to the NAC draft, the district grievance redressal officer will be selected by the UPSC for a five-year period during which it will monitor the implementation of the proposed legislation. The NAC draft provides district grievance redressal officer the same power as that vested in a civil court.

The other issue is the procedure for appointment of heads of national and state food commissions. The draft mandates only serving or retired judges to hold the position. Given the recent SC stricture against limiting the post of CVC to a bureaucrat, fears were expressed over the elaborate mechanism spelled out for it.

Thomas is also likely to discuss the draft with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.