Plea to evolve system to check seed prices in Nilgiris

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by the farmers’ association in The Nilgiris had submitted that there are about 12,000 farmers in The Nilgiris district and approximately 10,000 acres are used for agricultural activities and seeds for cultivation of crops like potato, beetroot, cabbage and cauliflower.

But while the seeds are imported from countries like Europe and Africa and is also governed by the provisions of Essential Commodities Act as amended in 2006, the seeds used for cultivation are sold at extremely high price by seeds dealers.

Therefore, appropriate mechanism shall be put in place to prevent such kind of activities to regulate the price, the plea sought.

The association’s counsel V Lakshminarayanan, also submitted that repeated representations submitted in this regard has failed to invoke any kind of response and therefore, the petitioner association is constrained to approach this Court by filing this PIL.

The division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha before whom the plea came issued notice of motion returnable by January 20, 2020. The bench also allowed issue of private notices to the authorities.