This C.C coming on before us for final hearing, on 6-2-2008 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 given by the opposite parties that the seed was virus free seed and by believing the same the complainant intends to cultivate chilly crop in Sy.No.64 at Koyachiluka village of Khammam Urban Mandal in an extent of Ac.1-20gts., and purchased Mahyco Tejaswini Hybrid Chilli Seeds from the opposite party No-1 on 1-7-2006 vide receipt No.105, 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 party No-1 and the crop was not grown and without any flowering 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 damaged with virus due to defective 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 the 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.1,00,000/- and as such he approached the Forum for redressal and the complainant claimed damages of Rs.75,000/- for the damage of chilli crop and also prayed to award damages to a tune of Rs.25,000/- towards mental agony and costs.
2. Along with the complaint, the complainant filed affidavit and also filed (i) original bill, dated 1-7-2006 for Rs.2,970/- issued by the opposite party No-1
3. After receipt of notice, the opposite parties appeared through their counsel and filed counter by denying the allegations made in the complaint.
4. 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 Thripts 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.
5. The opposite party No-1 filed a memo to adopt the contents of counter of opposite party No-2 as counter of opposite party No-1.
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 for inspecting the crop and 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 this case the Advocate/Commissioner neither returned his warrant nor filed any report to that effect.
7. The opposite parties filed an adoption memo to treat the contents of opposite party No-2 counter as their 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 Hybrid Chilli Seeds from the opposite party No-1 on 1-7-2006 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 the precautions and by following all the procedures. It is the case of the complainant that the crop was no flowering, 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 sent 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, and did not filed any proof to that effect 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 14th day of February, 2008.
President Member Member
District Consumers Forum, Khammam
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
-Nil-
President Member Member District Consumers Forum, Khammam
