The Madras High Court has expressed concern over the State government not having put in place a transparent and tamper-proof milk testing system though more than six years had elapsed since such a system was envisaged to ensure that milk producers get paid fairly by testing the quality of milk right at the first stage of procurement.
Justice Anita Sumanth observed that it was “incumbent” upon the Commissioner for Milk Production and Dairy Development and Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation, which owns the Aavin brand, to have taken “timely and immediate action” to implement the recommendations made by a committee on July 13, 2016.
Since it was reported to the court that nothing had been done even after six years, the judge set aside the Commissioner’s August 29, 2016 proceedings, which stated that test reports from district dairies, metro dairies and dairy-cum-powder plants would be used to pay the cost of milk until the creation of a transparent and tamper proof system.
The judge ordered that the milk producers should continue to get paid as per the guidelines framed on May 12, 2006 till the Commissioner and the federation come up with a transparent system to test the quality of milk during procurement. The orders were passed while disposing of a 2016 writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Milk Producers’ Welfare Association.
It was brought to the notice of the court that the individual milk producers in villages sell the milk to local cooperative societies which, in turn, send it to bulk milk coolers situated either at the taluk or district level. Thereafter, the milk gets transported to the district unions or directly to the federation in Chennai.
For long, the milk producers were paid as per the quantity and quality determined at the time of procurement by the local cooperative societies. However, due to large scale complaints of adulteration during transportation and other such malpractices, a committee was constituted to study bulk milk coolers, chilling centres and dairies.
The committee suggested that raw, chilled milk could be tested using a branded device to deduct adulterants. It recommended the creation of a milk testing system, with the necessary interface for automatically printing out the results and simultaneously transmitting them online through SMS and e-mail, as a permanent solution.
“Where the shoe pinches is the stand of the Commissioner that till a transparent and tamper-proof system is put in place, the test reports of district dairies, metro dairies and dairy-cum-powder plants will be adopted for the payment of milk cost,” Justice Sumanth said and pointed out that the petitioner association had gotten these proceedings stayed on September 23, 2016 itself.
Taking up the writ petition for final disposal now, the judge made the interim order absolute and said, the milk producers should continue to be paid as per the 2006 guidelines until a foolproof system is put in place.
