 bill no 122 of 2010 the commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities bill, 2010 by dr raghuvansh prasad singh, mp a billto provide for the constitution of a commission to fix the prices of essential commodities and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-first year of  the republic of india as follows:— 1  this act may be called the commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities act, 2010(ii) "commission" means the commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities constituted under section 3;10 of 1955(iii) "essential commodities" means essential commodities defined in clause (a)of section 2 of the essential commodities act, 1955;5(iv) "manufactured goods" means all goods and items that have been manufactured by use of machinery run by use of electricity and are meant for the use and consumption of the consumers; and(v) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act103 (1)  the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a commission to be known as the commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities to exercise the powers conferred upon, and to perform the functions assigned to it under this act(2) the commission shall consist of:—constitution of the commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities(i)  a chairperson who shall be a retired judge of the supreme court;15(ii)  five members of parliament, of whom three shall be from the house of the people and two shall be from the council of states, to be nominated by the presiding officers of the two houses;(iii)  three members representing farmers; (iv)  three members representing the industrial sector;20(v)  three economists who shall be nominated by the central government; and(3)  the secretary to the government of india in-charge of the department of consumer affairs shall be the ex-officio secretary to the commission25(4)  the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the service of the chairperson, members and secretary of the commission, shall be such as may be prescribed(5)  the head office of the commission shall be at new delhi (6) the central government shall provide such number of officers and staff to the commission as are required for its efficient functioning30(7)  the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the service of the officers and staff of the commission, shall be such as may be prescribed4 (1)  the commission shall perform the following functions:—functions of the commission(a)  determine the retail prices of agricultural commodities subject to the condition that the retail price of a commodity during a year is not increased by more than six per cent of its price during the previous year;35(b)  determine the retail prices of the manufactured goods subject to the condition that the retail price of a manufactured good shall not be more than one and a half time of their cost of production;(c)  payment of remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce in consultation with the commission for agricultural costs and prices; and40(d) monitor the supply of foodgrains and other essential commodities and recommend appropriate action against the persons found guilty of hoarding, profiteering and black marketing of essential commodities (2)  the commission shall monitor the supply of foodgrains and other essential commodities and recommend appropriate action against the persons found guilty of hoarding, profiteering and black marketing of essential commodities45(3) in discharge of its functions under the act, the commission shall consult the state governments and such other agencies as it thinks fit(4) the commission shall, as often as it may consider necessary, send a report containing its recommendations to the central government55 the central government shall determine the maximum retail prices of essentialcommodities including the agricultural commodities and the manufactured goods on the basis of the recommendations of the commissionmaximum retail prices of essential commodities to be prescribed by the central government penalties1010 of 19556 any person who charges or demands a price more than the maximum retail price determined by the central government under section 5, shall be treated as guilty of contravening an order made under section 3 of the essential commodities act, 1955 and shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of section 7 of that actact to have overriding effect7 the provisions of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effectnotwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force158 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being in force dealing with any of the matters dealt with in this actact to supplement other laws power to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act20 25(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonspresently the common man is severely affected by rapidly rising prices of essential commodities efforts being made by the government in this regard are turning out to be ineffective as a result, people are dissatisfied on this issue as this affects their quality of life the determination of prices of essential commodities depends on the market factor the government has no control over it owing to this fact, people with vested interest are making huge profits while the common man is facing difficulties there is no balance in the price between the agricultural commodities produced by the farmers and the goods manufactured in factories though minimum support price for certain agricultural products is fixed by the government, even then the farmers are compelled to sell their produce at a low price it is the middlemen who garner huge profits by selling the agricultural produce at very high priceson the other hand, the manufacturers, acting as a cartel, arbitrarily inflate the prices of the goods manufactured in factories and government has no control over ittherefore, constitution of a commission for price rise control and fixation of rates of commodities at the national level comprising of representatives of farmers, industrialists, economists and the public representatives will go a long way in curbing the price-rise the commission has to formulate a system wherein increase in retail prices will not be more than six per cent in one year between the sowing of the next crop and the retail prices of the products manufactured in factories should not be more than one and a half times of its cost this policy is also in tune with what was propounded by dr ram manohar lohiathe bill seeks to achieve the above objectives financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the constitution of a commission for fixation of prices of essential commodities it also provides for salary and allowances of the chairman, members and secretary of the commission the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of rupees ten crore would be involvedno non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 9 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for the constitution of a commission to fix the prices of essential commodities and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr raghuvansh prasad singh, mp)