In a relief to two farmers who suffered financial losses due to poor yield, the apex consumer commission NCDRC has awarded them around Rs two lakh compensation from the IFFCO for selling them "adulterated" seeds.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) to pay Rs 1,97,500 to two Haryana-based farmers Vijay Kumar and Vinod Kumar after taking note of the inspection report prepared by the state's Agriculture Department.
"I see no reason not to rely upon the inspection report prepared by three officers of the Agriculture Department who found that there was no flower and foliage in as many as 60-70 per cent of the plant growth," presiding member of the Commission Justice
V K Jain said.
The commission, while observing that a farmer would naturally make best efforts to ensure best yield, said in this case, all precautions to get optimum result were taken.
"If despite all efforts made by the farmer, there is no flower and foliage in as many as 60-70 per cent of the plants, it is obvious that there was some adulteration in the seeds," the commission said.
According to the complaint, the farmers had purchased 180 kgs of Guar seeds from the society and were assured a yield of eight to ten quintals per acre.
The farmers claimed they had followed proper instructions and prepared the field accordingly.
However, on harvest, they found that the crop was of not a good quality and complained to the agriculture department, who inspected the fields on September 26, 2012 and found that 60-70 per cent of plants had high growth without any fruits.
While the district forum had dismissed the complaint, the state commission had asked the society to pay compensation to the farmers. The IFFCO had challenged the state commission's order in the apex consumer commission which dismissed the revision petition.
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