Justice S C Dharmadhikari, in the ruling last week, upheld the order to the extent of suspending the license for insecticide 'Ethephon' from June to December 2012.
"It is not possible to brush aside the findings of the authorities in relation to Ethephon... Authorities had material which denotes that the product could not have been utilized for the fruit-bearing trees," the judge said.
"However, ultimate order suspending the license in regard to all products is beyond the show-cause notice... Therefore the order to that extent requires to be set aside."
The court held that there was a substance in the argument that license to deal in all the 51 products could not have been suspended when the dispute was only about Ethephon.
Rambhau Jagannath Dhavane, a farmer from Ahmednagar district, had used Ethephon 39 per cent SL, also known as Kripon, on grape plants, but it damaged the crop.
Acting on his complaint, the state authorities carried out inspection and concluded that this insecticide was not suitable for fruit-bearing trees.
Government lawyer R M Patne argued that the order was valid, because company had failed to address grievances of the farmers and compensate them.
