Madhya Pradesh High Court
Utkarsah Seed Producer Cooperative ... vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 12 July, 2022
Author: Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari
Bench: Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SUSHRUT ARVIND DHARMADHIKARI
ON THE 12th OF JULY, 2022
WRIT PETITION No. 19479 of 2020
Between:-
UTKARSAH SEED PRODUCER COOPERATIVE
SOCIETY MYDT. NEEMGAON THROUGH ITS
PRESIDENT KESHAV PAWAR S/O SHRI
RAJNARAYAN PAWAR AGED 44 YEARS OCCU.
AGRICULTURE R/O -36, RADHAKRISHNAN
WARD, JESANI CHOWK HARDA DISTT. HARDA
(MADHYA PRADESH)
.....PETITIONER
(BY SHRI MANIKANT SHARMA - ADVOCATE)
AND
1. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH THROUGH
SECRETARY MANTRALAYA BHOPAL (MADHYA
PRADESH)
2. COMMISSIONER/APPELLATE AUTHORITY
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BHOPAL
MANTRALAYA BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)
3. MANAGING DIRECTOR SEED CERTIFICATION
SOCIETY HEAD OFFICE B H O PA L OFFICE
COMPLEX BLOCK A GAUTAM NAGAR
(MADHYA PRADESH)
4. / SEED CERTIFICATION OFFICER DISTT. HARDA
(MADHYA PRADESH)
.....RESPONDENTS
(RESPONDENTS/STATE BY SHRI PRAVEEN NAMDEO -
GOVERNMENT ADVOCATE)
(RESPONDENTS NO.2 TO 4 BY SHRI RAJMANI MISHRA -
ADVOCATE)
Signature Not Verified
SAN
This petition coming on for admission, this day, the court passed the
Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF
Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST
following:
ORDER
2 Heard finally with the consent of both the parties.
B y invoking writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has filed the instant petition assailing the order dated 3.9.2000, anneuxre P/6, passed by the respondent no.3 as well as the order dated 12.10.2020, annexure P/9, passed by the respondent no.2, whereby the registration certificate of the petitioner society has been cancelled.
Brief facts leading to filing of the present petition are that the petitioner is a society registered under the M.P. Society Registrikaran Adhiniyam, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as 'Adhiniyam') . The petitioner society is involved in the production of certified seeds of various crops in accordance with the guidelines issued by the M.P. State Seed Certification Society, which is a subsidiary society of the State of M.P. The petitioner society was registered by the respondent society on 8.4.2019 having registration no.388. The respondent Seed Certification Society has been constituted to supervise the production of high quality of parent seed through the agriculturist who accepts the seed production program. The society registers primary agriculture societies and issues registration certificate. Thereafter, the society has to propose the number of agriculturists and the area in which the seed program is to be accepted. Accordingly, the working plan is prepared and the responsible officers of the respondent society are required to carry out the inspection of plots at every stage of crop and to submit a report thereof.
T h e petitioner society adopted the seed production program for producing 'pigeon pea' seeds in the year 2019-20 and as many as four Signature Not Verified agriculturists have come forward for the seed development program in their SAN fields. The respondent society provided original seeds (foundation seeds) to Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST the agriculturists. The said seeds were sown in the fields of the agriculturists 3 and the same were subjected to inspection by the competent officers of the respondent society. While the crops were at the inspection stage, one officer namely Shri Dinesh Khakre demanded money from the petitioner society to give a favourable report in their favour. On raising objection he submitted a negative report by forging the signatures of the agriculturist and rejected the crops. The petitioner society raised an objection, on which the respondent society authorised another officer namely Shri Ajay Singh to carry out the second inspection. He found everything in order and submitted the report in favour of the agriculturists. Thereafter, some unknown person made a malicious complaint regarding the report submitted by Mr.Ajay Singh. The complaint was got enquired by the Expert Enquiry Committee who conducted the enquiry and without granting any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner cancelled the certificate of the petitioner society.
Being aggrieved by the order of cancellation of certificate, the petitioner society preferred an appeal before the appellate authority. The appellate authority considering the fact that no opportunity of hearing was granted before passing the order dated 26.6.2020, remanded the matter with a direction to pass fresh order after affording opportunity of hearing. The petitioner society appeared before the Original Officer and submitted a written argument and also stated that Mr.Ajay Singh has carried inspections of various other societies and submitted the report wherein the estimated production of 36 quintals of crops has been shown. The ground of rejection was that in Khasra entry of the agriculturists it was found that the crop was mentioned as 'soyabean' instead of Signature Not Verified SAN 'pigeon pea'. Being aggrieved by the order dated 3.9.2020 the petitioner Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST preferred an appeal on the ground that Mr.Khakre had raised illegal demand 4 whereas Mr.Ajay Singh has given fair report. It was also mentioned that the seeds so produced were subjected to laboratory test and after packaging the same were supplied to the agriculturists. However, the appellate authority did not consider the grounds raised by the petitioner society and dismissed the appeal.
Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the appellate authority d id not consider the contentions raised by the petitioner and dismissed the appeal by passing a non-speaking order. It is further submitted that the petitioner society cannot be held responsible for the default of their own officer. It is also not in dispute that the seed tagging was carried out properly and lab test is also undisputed. No statement of the concerned agriculturists/members of the society was recorded to find out as to whether 'pigeon pea' was sown or not. Shri Ajay Singh was also issued a show cause notice and he submitted the reply justifying the inspection done which was accepted by the authorities. Because of cancellation of the certificate the farmers falling within the domain of the petitioner society are made to suffer for no fault of theirs. The basis reason for cancellation of the certificate is the Khasra entries. It is submitted that Khasra entries can be got modified by any person having vested interest and with the purpose to harass anybody. Thus, the impugned orders passed by the authorities are patently illegal and arbitrary and the same are liable to be set aside.
Learned counsel for the respondents no.2 to 4 opposed the prayer and submitted that the petitioner society was involved in malpractice as fraud and fabrication was done by the petitioner society. Instead of sowing pigeon pea Signature Not Verified SAN seeds, they have sown the soyabean. Proper opportunity of hearing was Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST granted to the petitioner and then only the respondent authority came to the 5 aforesaid conclusion and cancelled the certificate. The impugned orders are just and proper and are liable to be sustained. In view of the aforesaid, the petition deserves to be dismissed.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The allegation against the petitioner society is that 'arhar' 'pigeon pea' has not been sown by the agriculturists as per Khasra entry. On perusal of the record it is seen that 'pigeon pea' was got tested in the laboratory, the report of which is annexure P/4 dated 1.6.2020 in which name of the crop has been categorically mentioned as 'arhar' which were grown by the agriculturists/members of the petitioner society. That apart, the M.P. State Seed Certification Society, Bhopal, vide its letter dated 26.6.2020 had also certified that the lots mentioned in the letter to be of pigeon pea only. The seed tagging and lab test was also conducted, which is an undisputed fact, therefore, the cancellation of certificate appears to have been done maliciously only for the reason that some false complaint has been made against the petitioner society. None of the members/agriculturists were examined or their statements were recorded. In such a situation, the petitioner society cannot be held responsible. Even in the inspection conducted by Shri Ajay Singh no such anomaly was found and the inspection was later on got verified also. The reports submitted by Shri Ajay Singh in identical situation have been accepted by the authorities whereas in case of the petitioner, the same has been rejected. The J.G.P.-1 variety is developed by Junagarh University, Gujarat and the petitioner has filed a copy of the chart along with the rejoinder mentioning estimated production of Signature Not Verified SAN 36 quintals which was rightly mentioned by Mr.Ajay Singh in his report even Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF though the similar reports filed by the same officer have been accepted in Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST 6 respect of other societies. In such circumstances, the impugned order dated 3.9.2020, annexure P/6 and 12.10.2020, annexure P/9 cannot be allowed to stand. Accordingly, both the impugned orders dated 3.9.2020, annexure P/6, and appellate order dated 12.10.2020, annexure P/9, are hereby set aside. The respondents are directed to accept the lots wrongly rejected by them and settle the outstanding forthwith.
In the result, petition stands allowed and disposed of.
No order as to costs.
(S. A. DHARMADHIKARI) JUDGE HS Signature Not Verified SAN Digitally signed by HEMANT SARAF Date: 2022.07.12 19:18:16 IST