Agricultural dept failed cotton farmers: Hyderabad HC

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has found fault with the TS agricultural department authorities for failing to protect cotton farmers from the clutches of seed companies and not ensuring steps to ensure errant companies to pay compensation to farmers.

Justice T. Sunil Chowdary, while disposing a petition by J. Sriranga Rao of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and four others, wondered why farmers should always be at the receiving end and why should they be victimised all the time.

The judge, while asking the authorities why they can’t act strictly against errant companies, told them to attach assets of the company if it failed to pay.

The judge granted a month to the authorities to make a company, Mahyco Seeds, to pay Rs 47 lakh as compensation to 97 farmers of Ranga Reddy district who suffered heavy losses on account of spurious seeds supplied by the company to the farmers.

The petitioners brought to the notice of the court about the plight of cotton farmers in Vikarabad, Pudur and Nawabpet mandals in Ranga Reddy district who had sown two varieties of Mahyco’s cotton seeds known as MRC 7383 and Passion BG-II seeds and had suffered crop failures and losses.

B. Rachna Reddy, counsel for the petitioners, told the court that the company, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co Private Ltd (Mahyco) advertised that its seeds were high yielding and promised that they would fetch farmers good cotton crop.

Following complaints of crop failure, the district level committee had ordered the company to pay Rs 47 lakh as compensation to 97 farmers, Ms Reddy said.