JUDGMENT :

S. Muralidhar, J.

1. There are two writ petitions filed as Public Interest Litigations (PILs) by the farmers of Odisha. While the farmers of the Districts of Cuttack and Kendrapara came forward, more than two decades ago, to file OJC No.17037 of 2001, the farmers of Bolangir District in western Odisha came forward in 2002 to file OJC No.3721 of 2002.

2. The CONTC No.2932 of 2012 was filed by the Petitioners in OJC No.3721 of 2002 complaining of failure to implement the interim judgment dated 25th April, 2002 and the detailed order dated 13th December, 2004 of this Court in these writ petitions.

3. The central concern in both these writ petitions, at the time they were filed, was about the “unholy combination/nexus of the Rice Millers, Storage agents, Civil Supply Officials and Officials of Food Corporation of India (FCI) in paddy procurement.” According to the Petitioners, as a result, “there is wide distress sale of paddy all over the State, which has seriously affected the poor farmers.” Therefore, the prayers in both the writ petitions are identical. Apart from asking for an investigation into the matter by an independent agency “to find out the remedial measures” so as t