CAIT lauds Supreme Court observations on FDI in retail

New Delhi, January 22, 2013: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which is spearheading a nationwide agitation against FDI in Retail has lauded the observations of Supreme Court of India on FDI policy of the Government.

The direction of the apex court to the Government to file an affidavit in three weeks to spell out as to how it intends to safeguard the interests of small traders, is a most pertinent and logical question and duly corroborates the concerns raised by the CAIT since a long time-said CAIT National President B. C. Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal at New Delhi today while reacting on the observations made by the apex court today.

The dictum of "dictatorship in democracy" has been checked by the observations of the apex court, said CAIT.
Both Bhartia and Khandelwal said that the Preamble of the Constitution of India assures the citizens of social and economic equality and the notification of the Government is certainly in contravention of the Constitutional provisions as the entry of MNCs into retail trade will create an uneven level playing field and due to their deep pockets, they will uproot the small traders and will wipe out the competition and will create a monopoly. The Apex Court has rightly taken cognizance of this important factor. The observations of the Court are certainly amounts to upholding the Constitution of India, said both Bhartia and Khandelwal.
The trade leaders said that the Union Government did not hold any talks with stakeholders and bye-pass all constitutional norms, mislead the Country by not furnishing true facts and figures and unilaterally impose its decision which is against the spirit of the Democracy. The apex Court rightly asked what are the preventive measures enshrined in the FDI policy to protect small traders. It’s an open fact that a game was played inside the Parliament by the Government and through its "manipulative practices", the debate obtained the majority whereas in fact the numbers of speakers in the debate were not in favour of the motion.
The CAIT will keenly await the response of the Government and if need be will apprise the Apex Court as to how the nation was misled by the Government on this important issue having a vital bearing on livelihood of crores and crores of people in the country, they said.