Seafood exporters plan to petition the high court here against the recent order to deposit one per cent of their turnover to the Kerala Fishermen’s Welfare Fund
The fund’s board has issued notices to exporters to do so in accordance with an amendment in the law and the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI)plan to challenge this, too.
The notices have been issued with effect from 2007 and Abdul Hashim, president of SEAI, told Business Standard the dues in this regard would be Rs 60 crore, which the sector cannot afford to pay. There is a slowdown in demand from Europe, the largest importer of Indian seafood, and the central government has also moved to take back its incentives under the Vishesh Krishi and Gramin Udyog Yojana, he said. Having the state put the demand at such a time would force small and medium units to stop operations.
The courts had earlier ruled that exporters were not covered by the Fishermen Welfare Fund Act, 1985. Exporters do not hire fishermen, the ruling had noted.
However, the state government negatived the ruling by amending the law, in 2007, to put exporters into the ambit. Hashim said this was a fit case for legal challenge. Workers directly employed by exporters, he said, were covered under various statutory welfare schemes.
