KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday reserved its order on the petition filed by the All Kerala Poultry Farmers and Traders Association challenging the directive of Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac to sell chicken at Rs 87 per kg.
During the argument, the state government said there was no order directing the poultry dealers to sell chicken at Rs 87. It was only an oral directive to the dealers to do so, the government stated.
According to the petitioners, the minister’s directive resulted in small-scale poultry dealers incurring a loss of over Rs 1,000 daily. The price of chicken at farms is Rs 87 per kg.
When it reaches the retail shop, the price comes to around Rs 100-Rs 125 per kg. In such circumstances, it is impossible to implement the directive to sell chicken at Rs 87 per kg, the plea stated. According to the government, the directive to sell chicken at Rs 87 per kg was issued by the minister after noticing chicken was included in the zero-tax category post-GST.
Since the price of live chicken was Rs 102 before the implementation of GST, which included Rs 14.5 tax, the minister had directed to sell it at Rs 87 per kg, after reducing Rs 15 from the pre-GST rates.
The directive was issued to protect the interests of the consumers.