This C.C coming on before us for final hearing, on 30-7-2008 in the presence of Sri. Y.Srinivasa Rao, Advocate for Complainant , and of Sri.A.Sarath Chander, Advocate for the opposite party No-1&2, ; upon perusing the material papers on record; upon hearing arguments, and having stood over for consideration, this Forum passed the following:-
ORDER
(Per Smt.V.Vijaya Rekha, Member )
1. This complaint is filed under section 12(1) of the Consumer Protection Act,1986 with the following averments;
2. The complainant is an agriculturist, and having agricultural experience since long back and by observing the wide publicity of the opposite parties about more yielding and having resistance of virus and by believing the publicity and branded name of the opposite parties the complainant intends to cultivate chilly crop in Sy.No.106 at Koyachelaka village of Khammam Urban Mandal in an extent of Ac.2-00gts., and purchased Tejaswini Chilli Seeds from the opposite party No-1 on 23-6-2006 vide receipt No.74, for Rs.6,580/- which was manufactured and marketed by opposite party No-2 and raised the nursery in the month of July,2006 by investing large amounts for cultivation, manure and applied pesticides and fertilizers as per the advises given by the opposite parties, but the crop was not grown properly and did not flowered as per the advertisement of the opposite parties and after noticing the same the complainant informed to the A.O. Khammam Urban Mandal and the A.O. informed that the crop was affected with virus due to defective quality of seeds and the complainant further stated that the opposite parties gave an assurance that the crop will give 30 quintals yielding per acre and the complainant alleged that by taking all precautions and by following the procedure prescribed by the opposite parties, he raised the crop, but there is no yielding and as such he sustained a loss of Rs.2,00,000/- and as such he approached the Forum for redressal and the complainant claimed damages of Rs.2,00,000/- for the damage of chilli crop and costs.
3. Along with the complaint, the complainant filed affidavit and also filed (i) original bill, dated 23-6-2006 for purchasing of Mahyco Chilli seeds for Rs.6,580/- issued by opposite party No-1
4. After receipt of notice, the opposite parties appeared through their counsel and filed counter by denying the allegations made in the complaint.
5. The opposite party No-2 who filed the counter and submitted that as per the complaint itself there is no negligence or deficiency on their part and further contended that the burden lies on the complainant to prove any deficiency and the complainant failed to prove the same and moreover did not filed any document regarding the defect in the seeds. Further the opposite party No-2 contended that as per the reports of scientists the crop has been affected due to long dry spell which resulted in spread of Thrips infestation and as per the reports of Scientists of Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University the crop was affected due to infestation of Peanut Bud Necrosis Virus and Cucumber Mosaic Virus and the same shows that the problem is not due to the quality of seeds, the same was due to infestation of pest and virus and for which they cannot be held responsible. The opposite party No-2 by denying all the allegations made in the complaint contended that whenever there is an allegation regarding the defect, it cannot be determined without proper analysis as per section-13 (I)(c) of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and in the present case there is no such analysis to find the defect in the seeds. Further the opposite party No-2 contended that after completion of harvesting season the Commissioner/advocate inspected the crop and it is not possible to assess the genetic purity of the crop. The opposite party No-2 further contended that the Advocate/Commissioner and the M.A.O. did not disclose that the problem was due to defect in the seeds and as such prayed to dismiss the complaint.
6. The complainant filed a petition to appoint an Advocate/Commissioner to inspect the crop for assessment of damages of the crop, accordingly this Forum appointed an Advocate/Commissioner through I.A.No.131/2007 to assess the damages of the crop and also directed to send the seed samples to an appropriate laboratory for analysis with the help of A.O. concerned, but in the present case on hand neither the Advocate/Commissioner nor the A.O. filed any report to that effect.
7. The opposite party No-1 filed a memo to adopt the contents of written statement of opposite party No-2 as its written statement and both the opposite parties filed an adoption memo to treat the contents of counter of opposite party No-2 as written arguments.
8. In view of the above submissions made by both the parties, now the point for consideration is whether the complainant is entitled to any relief as prayed or not.
9. As seen from the above averments there is no dispute regarding the purchase of Tejaswini Chilli Seeds from the opposite party No-1 on 23-6-2006 and as per the complaint after growing the nursery bed i.e. seedlings, the plants were planted in the field of complainant after taking all precautions and by following all the procedures. It is the case of the complainant that the crop was not flowered, he approached the A.O. concerned and further alleged that the A.O., who inspected the field, opined that the virus was attacked on the crop due to defect in the seeds and the flowering was not found and as such the complainant seeks redressal from the opposite parties and it is the case of the opposite parties that there is no defect in the seeds supplied by them and the alleged damage was due to the affect of Virus attack and prayed to dismiss the complaint. The opposite party No-2 mentioned in their counter that to find a defect, it is necessary to send the seed samples to an appropriate laboratory for analysis and section-13(I) (C) of C.P.Act 1986 also speaks the same and prayed to dismiss the complaint with cost of Rs.5,000/-. In view of the above versions put forth by both the parties, it is clear that there is no proof regarding the defect in the seeds as alleged by the complainant and moreover the complainant who filed the complaint only basing on that allegation, did not choose to take any steps in that regard and the complainant alleges that he believed the wide publicity of the opposite parties that the seed was virus resistant, but did not file any proof to that effect, mere allegation is not sufficient to come to a conclusion and the Commissioner/advocate or the A.O. or H.O. who collected the sample for analysis, did not furnish the analysis report, and in the absence of scientific analysis report regarding the quality of seeds, this Forum cannot come to a conclusion regarding the quality of seeds and as such this point is answered accordingly against the complainant by holding that the complainant is not entitled to any relief as prayed.
10. In the result the C.C. is dismissed. No costs.
Typed to my dictation, Corrected and pronounced by us, in this Forum on this 20th day of August, 2008.
President Member Member
District Consumers Forum, Khammam
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
-Nil-
President Member Member District Consumers Forum, Khammam
