DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,<br /> BATHINDA (PUNJAB)<br /> <br /> CC No. 302 of 20-10-2009<br /> Decided on : 29-04-2010 <br /> <br /> Resham Singh S/o Babu Singh R/o Village Gidder, Tehsil and District Bathinda.<br /> ..... Complainant<br /> Versus<br /> <br /> M/s. Rushil Hybrid Seeds Company, Railway Station, Mahesana 7, Ganotri Complex, Mansa G.I.D.C. Gandhinagar (Gujarat) through its prop. Prahlad Coudhari and Ashok Kumar<br /> ....Opposite party<br /> <br /> CC No. 303 of 20-10-2009<br /> Decided on : 29-04-2010 <br /> <br /> Sukhdip Singh S/o Makhan Singh R/o Village Gidder, Tehsil and District Bathinda.<br /> ..... Complainant<br /> Versus<br /> <br /> M/s. Rushil Hybrid Seeds Company, Railway Station, Mahesana 7, Ganotri Complex, Mansa G.I.D.C. Gandhinagar (Gujarat) through its prop. Prahlad Choudhari and Ashok Kumar<br /> ....Opposite party<br /> <br /> <br /> Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection<br /> Act, 1986.<br /> <br /> QUORUM <br /> <br /> Ms. Vikramjit Kaur Soni, President<br /> Dr. Phulinder Preet, Member<br /> Sh. Amarjeet Paul, Member<br /> <br /> For the Complainant : Sh. Bansi Lal Sachdeva, Counsel for the complainant <br /> For the Opposite party : Exparte <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> O R D E R<br /> <br /> VIKRAMJIT KAUR SONI, PRESIDENT<br /> <br /> 1. This order will also dispose of CC No. 303 of 20-10-2009 titled Sukhdip Kaur Vs. M/s. Rushil, Hybrid Seeds company because facts of both the cases, relief claimed, cause of action and the opposite party is same.<br /> 2. The complainants have purchased Rushil-134 Pac 8,Krish Pac Nos. 6, Foram 151 Pac Nos. 4 and Jarman 191 Pac 12 vide bill Nos. 1283 and 1285 both dated 28-04-2009 worth Rs. 8150/- and Rs. 8100/- respectively from the opposite party. While purchasing the seeds, the opposite party assured the complainants that production of cotton crop will yield approximately 12 to 14 Qntls per acre. The complaints have sown Jarman 191 in their 6 acres of land each, made spray and also provided urea and watered properly as recommended by Agricultural University. The plants were well developed and also produced flowers but the same were not converted into cotton bolls (Tinda). The complainants contacted the opposite party on telephone and requested to visit their fields but the opposite party failed to visit their fields. The opposite party was served with legal notices by the complainants but no reply to notices were received. <br /> 3. Notices of the complaints were sent to the opposite party by registered post and the same were received back undelivered. Publication in this regard was also done in the local news papers of Gandhinagar (Gujarat). Despite that, opposite party failed to appear before this Forum and as such, exparte proceedings were taken against it.<br /> 4. Complainants led exparte evidence.<br /> 5. We have heard Sh. Bansi Lal Sachdeva, learned counsel for the complainant and have gone through the entire record of the case. <br /> 6. Vide order dated 30-11-2009, this Forum appointed Sh. Dharam Pal, Agriculture Development officer, Block Nathana, District Bathinda, as Local Commissioner in order to visit the spot/fields of the complainants and file a detailed report before this Forum. The report of the Local Commissioner in the case CC No. 302 titled Resham Singh Vs. Rushil Hybrid Seeds Company can be read as under :-<br /> “........After giving due notice to the complainant and subsequent examination of the fields on dated 2-12-2009 in the presence of complainant and other persons of the village the report is submitted as under :-<br /> 1. The said cotton crop of the complainant was sown in three fields each having an area of approximately 2 acres situated at three different locations as under : <br /> Field No. 1 – Along the distributory passing through the fields situated towards village Klyan Sukha near the kutcha path from Gidder to kalyan orginating from Gidder to Neor Road.<br /> Field No. 2 – was situated on Kutcha path from Gidder to Kalyan originating from pucca road to Nathpura.<br /> Field No. 3 – was situated on kutcha path from village Gidder to village Jandanwala near the Panchayat land of village Gidder along the boundry of village Jandanwala. <br /> 2. The general appearance of cotton crop standing in all the above fields was almost similar suggesting that these fields have been sown simultaneously and during the normal sowing season during the month of May. The exact date of sowing in this regard cannot be ascertained.<br /> 3. The growth of cotton crop in these fields was normal with respect to different growth factors such as germination and plant population, height of plants, develoment of leaves and branches etc. These factors indicate that normal package of practices for raising the crop have been followed by the complainant. These practices include fertility status of the soil of fields, seed rate, sowing time, spacing, fertilizer application, irrigation and plant protection measures etc.<br /> 4. So far as the appearance of fruit bearing parts of the cotton plants consisting of flowers buds, flowers, bolls, and fully opened bolls yielding cotton is concerned the following points were observed ;<br /> i) About 5% of the plant population did not bear any of the fruit bearing parts which may be due to the faulty seed production.<br /> ii) The remaining plants were bearing on an average 50 bolls per plant.<br /> iii) Majority of the bolls were having three locules (segments) as compared to four in normal varieties recommended for cultivation in the state.<br /> iv) About 10% of the bolls had opened giving rise to cotton. The remaining bolls were still green and immature.<br /> The immature and unopened bolls were likely to take about a month or so for maturity and proper opening. This delay in timely development, maturity and opening of bolls in these cotton fields is mainly attributed to the varietal charaterstics suggesting that the variety of cotton sown in these fields is probably a long duration variety. As per the verbal information provided by the complainant, the variety of cotton sown in these fields is Jarman-1. This variety has not been recommended by Punjab Agricultural University for cultivation in the state of Punjab.<br /> 5. The fully opened bolls gave a cotton yield of about 2.5 gm each. <br /> Keeping in view the above factors it is estimated that these fields of cotton may yield 6 to 6.5 quintals of cotton per acre as compared to estimated average yield of 9.06 quintals per acre for Bathinda district.”<br /> 7. The report of the Local Commissioner in the case CC No. 303 titled Sukhdeep Singh Vs. Rushil Hybrid Seeds Company can be read as under :-<br /> “ .....After giving due notice to the complainant and subsequent examination of the fields on dated 2-12-2009 in the presence of complainant and other persons of the village the report is submitted as under :-<br /> 1. The said cotton crop of the complainant was sown in a single field having an area of approximately 6 acres situated on Kucha path from Gidder to Romana village.<br /> 2. The general appearance of cotton crop standing in the field was normal which suggested that sowing of the crop has been done during the normal sowing season i.e. in the month of May. The exact date of sowing in this regard cannot be ascertained.<br /> 3. The growth of cotton crop was normal with respect to different growth factors such as germination and plant population, height of plants, development of leaves and branches etc., These factors indicate that normal package of practices for raising the crop have been followed by the complainant. These practices include fertility status of the soil of fields, seed rate, sowing time, spacing, fertilizer application, irrigation and plant protection measures etc.<br /> 4. So far as the appearance of fruit bearing parts of the cotton plants consisting of flowers buds, flowers, bolls and fully opened bolls yielding cotton is concerned the following points were observed :<br /> i) About 8% of the plant population did not bear any of the fruit bearing parts which may be due to the faulty procedure of seed production.<br /> ii) The remaining plants were bearing on an average 45 bolls per plant.<br /> Iii) Majority of the bolls were having three locules (segments) as compared to four in normal varieties recommended for cultivation in the State.<br /> iv) About 10% of the bolls had opened giving rise to cotton. The remaining bolls were still green and immature.<br /> The immature and unopened bolls were likely to take about a month or so for maturity and proper opening. This delay in timely development, maturity and opening of bolls in these cotton fields is mainly attributed to the varietal charaterstics suggesting that the variety of cotton sown in these fields is probably a long duration variety. As per the verbal information provided by the complainant, the variety of cotton sown in these fields is Jarman-1. This variety has not been recommended by Punjab Agricultural University for cultivation in the state of Punjab.<br /> 5. The fully opened bolls gave a cotton yield of about 2.5 gm each. <br /> Keeping in view the above factors it is estimated that these fields of cotton may yield 5.5 to 6.0 quintals of cotton per acre as compared to estimated average yield of 9.06 quintals per acre for Bathinda district.” <br /> 8. From the above said report and discussion, it is clear from the appearance of standing cotton crops in the fields that it was sown in time i.e. in the month of May although exact date of sowing was not mentioned. In the reports submitted by of Local Commissioner, it is specifically mentioned that variety of cotton seed sown in the fields is Jarman-191. This variety has not been recommended by Punjab Agricultural University for cultivation in the State of Punjab.<br /> 9. The complainants have failed to produce any evidence on the file to the effect that opposite party ever compelled or suggested the complainants to sow this variety of seeds in their fields or they have ever seek advice from the opposite party for sowing this variety of seeds in their fields. The complainants have failed to prove that there was any defect or the seeds were of inferior/sub-standard quality. Moreover, from the perusal of the report of Local Commissioner it is revealed that Jarman 191 is not recommended for cultivation in the State of Punjab meaning thereby the complainants with their own choice have purchased Jarman 191 from the opposite party. If the complainants have purchased wrong seeds, the liability of that cannot be put on the opposite party. Therefore, no defect in the seeds is proved as no seeds were ever produced before this Forum for its laboratory analysis or for expert opinion. The complainants have placed nothing on record to show that seeds supplied were of inferior/substandard quality. The cause of less production may be due to many reason like variety of soil, water, fertilizer, natural environment etc, <br /> 10. In the light of what has been discussed above, this complaint is dismissed with no order as to costs.<br /> A copy of this order be also placed on file CC No. 303 of 2-10-2009 titled Sukhdip Singh Vs. M/s. Rushil, Hybrid Seeds Company, <br /> Copy of this order be sent to the parties concerned free of costs and the file be consigned to record. <br /> Pronounced :<br /> 29-04-2010 (Vikramjit Kaur Soni)<br /> President<br /> <br /> <br /> (Dr. Phulinder Preet)<br /> Member <br /> <br /> (Amarjeet Paul)<br /> *ik Member <br />