The petition filed by the All India Lawyers Union (AILU) through its counsel Ashok Aggarwal would come up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Justices Y K Sabharwal and K S Gupta tomorrow.

The petition was filed in view of the price rise of essential commodities like onions (Rs 40 per kg), potatoes (Rs 15 per kg), capsicums (Rs 45 per kg), ginger (Rs 50 per kg), beans (Rs 30 per kg) and cauliflower (Rs 40 per kg) during the past three months.

AILU urged the court to pass orders to prevent hoarding and black-marketing and ensure adequate supply of these essential commodities in the market immediately. It further urged the court to ensure sale of the said essential commodities even in the open market at reasonable prices by invoking the provisions of EssentialCommodities Act, 1955, under which all the food items were covered.

The petitioner submitted that unprecedented rise in price of onions among other things reflected the gross failure of the authorities in disciplining the traders at both retail and wholesale levels.

The doubling of price has been triggered by the collusion of the traders and their political masters, it alleged adding that despite a series of meetings to monitor price level in the recent days, the governments have done precious little to ensure an adequate supply of fruits and vegetables.

The petitioner further submitted that the governments should have taken action under the provisions of Essential Commodities Act, but no such action was taken on their part. On the other hand, their inaction was helping the wholesale and retail dealers to amass huge profits by exploiting the common man, it alleged.