File complaint over seed quality

The supply of substandard seeds is punishable under the Consumers Act. The Supreme Court in a judgement given on 16-1-12 (I  (2012) CPJ 1 (SC)) said that the that the National Seed Act deals with only the prosecution of the vendors of defective seeds, but is totally silent on the issue of payment of compensation for the loss of crop on account of defective seeds.

To get compensation for the loss they have suffered, the only course open to the farmers is filing a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act. Since the Consumer Protection Act is in addition to the Seed Act and not in its derogation, there is no bar on filing complaints against defective seeds under the Consumer Protection Act. Since the farmers were growing crops to earn their livelihood, the Supreme Court said the argument that they had a commercial purpose was not valid.

Normally, supply of defective seeds comes under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act and  the farmers can approach the consumer courts and obtain compensation for the loss they have suffered because of seed failure, according to a press release from the Mysore Grahakara Parishat’s G L Nagaraj Urs.

Recently, several District Consumer Fora of Andhra Pradesh ruled against National Seeds Corporation for selling defective seeds. 

The company appealed before the Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Commission and the National Consumer Commission, but lost both the appeals. It then appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that complaints againt defective seeds should be filed under the National Seeds Act, 1966 and not under the Consumer Protection Act. It also argued that the farmers were not consumers under the Consumer Protection Act since they had purchased the seeds for a commercial purpose.

After dismissing the appeal of the Corporation, the Supreme Court imposed court costs of Rs. 25,000 to be paid to each farmer who had filed cases against it. It would have been even better if the Supreme Court had ordered the Corporation to pay a sum to compensate the loss of hundreds if not thousands of other farmers who lost their livelihood due to the defective seeds supplied by it.

National Seeds Corporation is a Government of India undertaking and is a "Mini-Ratna" company. It was started to help the poor farmers of India by providing them with affordable good quality seeds. It is surprising that the Corporation is not only derelict in its duty of supplying quality seeds but is also harassing the farmers by appealing all the way to the Supreme Court with frivolous objections, said the release.