Tea e-auction to re-start today

The Tea Board will re-introduce cent per cent e-auction in Kochi from tomorrow. This is based on a direction issued by the Kerala High Court to the Tea Board on July 7.

Tomorrow, e-auction will be done for dust tea. On Wednesday, leaf grades will be offered for auction. Tea board sources told Business Standard that all recommendations in the report of the advocates’ commission, set up on the directions of the court, had been implemented and software used for e-auction had been upgraded to ensure hassle-free trading.

The board had introduced the new system more than a month back. The system was opposed by both buyers and sellers and the trading had to be stopped for two days.

The Tea Buyers Association of Kochi then sought the intervention of the high court for smooth conduct of trading.

A single-judge Bench of the high court directed the Tea Board to re-start e-auction by implementing the recommendations of the report of the advocates’ panel.

Justice V Giri also directed the board to rectify the lapses in the new trading system on the basis of the report. The judge also instructed the TBA to approach the court in case there was any issue related to the system.