Selling below or above the controlled price

Question

Question: There is a controlled-price shop for grain held in partnership (?). Grain arrived there, and the government fixed a date: grain will be distributed until such-and-such a date. Some people did not come by the appointed date. Now, after the fixed date, is it permissible for the shop owner to sell it to others with an increase on the rate fixed by the government, or should he wait for those people for whom the grain had come?

Answer

Controlled-price grain shops are of two kinds. (1) The shopkeeper does not himself buy the grain from the government; rather, the grain remains the government’s, and the shopkeeper receives a commission according to the “decision” on sales. If such is the case, it is not permissible for the shopkeeper to sell to anyone else with an increase on the rate fixed by the government.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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