A writ petition was filed with the High Court today, seeking its directive on the government to set up a monitoring cell and control the price of soybean oil in the market. Supreme Court lawyers Monir Hossain, Syed Mohidul Kabir and Mohammad Ullah submitted the petition as a public interest litigation based on a report published in The Daily Star on March 3 on soybean oil price hike.

The HC may hold hearing on the petition this afternoon, writ petitioner Syed Mohidul Kabir told The Daily Star. According to The Daily Star report, traders in their bid to make a quick buck are siphoning out soybean oil from sealed 5-litre containers and selling the cooking oil in loose form while others are hoarding the oil -- driving the prices up in retail.

As edible oil has become expensive in the international market in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, dishonest traders have started creating an artificial crisis here.

Prices of edible oil have shot up and gone beyond the government's fixed rates at retail, and the consumers as always are paying the price. On March 2, a litre of loose soybean oil was going for Tk 175 per litre, 22 percent higher than the government's fixed rate of Tk 143, according to market prices data compiled by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Interestingly, the 5-litre containers were selling for Tk 830, still 4.4 percent higher than the government fixed rate of Tk 795, and the per litre cost was about Tk 10 cheaper than loose soybean oil. This prompted retailers to start selling oil of the containers in loose form, The Daily Star report said.