Supreme Court notice to Centre, states on hoarding

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre and states on a plea seeking stricter punishment to control hoarding, adulteration and black marketing of items.

A bench of Justice S A Nazeer and Justice V Ramasubramanian issued notice to the Centre and all states on a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

The plea has also sought direction to the Centre and states to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against people involved in these activities and seize their 100 per cent "benami properties and disproportionate assets".

Filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, the petition urged the apex court to rule that the punishment for offences of hoarding, profiteering, adulteration and black marketing and the sentence shall be consecutive, not concurrent. It has also sought direction to the Centre to examine international laws related to hoarding, profiteering, adulteration and black marketing and take appropriate steps to insert a chapter for these offences in the Indian Penal Code.