Telangana High Court
Cheedella Venkata Raman vs Prl. Secy., Min. Of Agrl., New Delhi 23 ... on 8 February, 2022
Author: Satish Chandra Sharma
Bench: Satish Chandra Sharma, Abhinand Kumar Shavili
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI
WRIT PETITION (PIL) No.144 of 2017
ORDER:(Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma) The petitioner before this Court, who is an Advocate, has filed the present writ petition impleading almost each and every department of Government of India as respondents.
The petitioner in the writ petition has prayed for the following reliefs:
"It is therefore humbly prayed that the Hon'ble court may be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction and more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus
a) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.1 constituting the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Price vide Resolution No.6-2/65-C(E), dated 08.01.1965 and continuation of its Commission on subsequent dates by fixing Price by way of Minimum Support Price to the 25 Agriculture Products produced by the Petitioner as well as other farmers inclusive of the Paddy raised by the Petitioner are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and as well as violative of the division of powers by the State and Central as per Article 246 of the Constitution of India and to pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice, otherwise I shall be put to grave hard ship.
b) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondents 1, 2, 3, 9 & 11 fixing the rates for the Agriculture Products with unscientific methods of data collection and information from the 10th Respondent is illegal and Arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
c) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondents 15 to 20 in not providing Support Price to the Agriculture Products produced by the Petitioner as well as other farmers in the States are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
d) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.2 in procuring the Agriculture Products from the Petitioner as well as other farmers under Food Corporation of India Act, 1964 and not increasing the distribution price to the States are declare 2 as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
e) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondents 3, 6 & 10 in calculating the Share of the Agriculture (Prime Sector) in the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and consequently direct the above Respondents and to calculate the share of the Agriculture on Consumer Price Index Rates.
f) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondents 17 & 20 in restricting the Markets under Section 7 of A.P. Agriculture (Produce and Live Stocks) Marketing Act, 1966 are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
g) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.2 in the name of Administration under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 by imposing Ban Under Section 2(a), 3(2 & 3), 3A & 6A by way of Regularising the Permits, License, Storage, Transport, Distribution of Agriculture Products produced by the Petitioner as well as other farmers are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and consequently declare the acts of the Respondents are against to the Competition Act, 2002.
h) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.2 and its Nodal Agency i.e., 24" Respondent (FCI) by procuring Agriculture Products produced by the Petitioner as well as other farmers at the price given by the 1st Respondent on the basis of illegal statistics given by the 10th Respondent and procuring the Agriculture in the name of Essential Commodities by the 2nd Respondent are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and consequently declare that the acts of the Respondents 1, 2 & 10 are to be Anti Competitive Agreements and further consequently declare that the 2nd Respondent administer the 24th Respondent (FCI) is declare to be abusive of dominant position by an enterprise under section 3 & 4 of Competition Act, 2002.
i) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.6 in not Administering the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and State Bank of India Act, 1955 on the flow of Credit to the farmers and showing discrimination to the lending of loans to the Agriculture Sector are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
j) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.21 pertaining to lending of advances not to be disclosed under section 18A of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
k) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.22 declare that the 22nd Respondent (SBI) is discharging their duties against to the spirit of flow of Agriculture Credit with the Rural Sector are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.3
1) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.23 and it's Regulation No.3 of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Obligations of Insurers to Rural or Social Sectors) with Regulations, 2002 by limiting the business of Rural Sector Insurance by the Insurance Companies which are registered under section 32B & C of the Insurance Act, 1938 are declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
m) declaring that the Provisions of Section 9(1), 20 and 22 of the Seeds Act, 1966 imposing the low penalty for the wrong doers who processed and sale the Seeds without Germination is illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and consequently direct the 1st Respondent to enhance the punishment in Multiplication with Consumer Price Index of the particular Agricultural Season.
n) declaring that the acts, deeds and things of the Respondent No.3 under Spices Board Act, 1986 in showing discrimination to the Schedule 2(n) of the Spices in compare with growers of Cardamom in ensuring enumerative prices is declare as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and consequently direct the 3rd Respondent to extend the Stabilization Fund to all the Spices as per the Schedule 2(n) of Spices Board Act, 1986.
o) declare the Section 14 of the A.P. Cotton Seeds (Regulation, Supply, Distribution, Sale and Fixation of Sale Price) Act, 2007 showing discrimination in filing Complaint by Petitioner as well as Farmers against the Seed Company for getting sanction from the Controller under the above Act as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India."
The petitioner, who is appearing in-person, has confined his prayer only in respect of fixation of Minimum Support Price and has vehemently argued before this Court that the Government is not fixing proper Minimum Support Price in respect of various agricultural produce, which is resulting in financial loss to the farmers.
This Court has asked a categoric question to the petitioner to point out the statutory provision of law and the mode and method of fixing the Minimum Support Price. However, no statutory provision of law has been brought to us and on contrary, the petitioner has stated that the Government has constituted a Commission for Agriculture Cost and Price by resolution dated 4 08.01.1965 and the Minimum Support Price of Paddy has not been fixed properly. The writ petition was filed in the year 2017 in respect of Minimum Support Price fixed for the year 2017. We are in the year 2022.
In the considered opinion of this Court, fixation of Minimum Support Price has to be done by the Government of India taking into account various factors and this Court is not a competent authority to fix Minimum Support Price in respect of any agricultural produce. Resultantly, no case for interference is made out in the matter.
The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, shall stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
__________________________________ SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ ______________________________ ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI, J 08.02.2022 ES