C VIDYASAGAR Vs. STATE OFANDHRA PRADESH REP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Joint Director of Andhra Pradesh State Seeds Certification Agency, 2nd respondent, has instituted this writ petition seeking the following reliefs in the nature of Writ of Mandamus:

(2.) The petitioner is a Post-graduate having the qualification of M.Sc., (Agriculture) in Plant Physiology, which he obtained in the year 1979. He was initially recruited in the 2nd respondent-Agency on 27-11-1979 as a Seed Certification Officer. A vacancy of Senior Seed Certification Officer was notified for direct recruitment in the year 1988. The petitioner competed in the said recruitment, was selected and appointed as Senior Seed Certification Officer. During December, 1993, he was promoted as Deputy Director. On the creation of the post of Joint Director in the 2nd respondent-Agency, the petitioner having been considered along with other qualified persons, was selected and appointed as a Joint Director on 24-11-1997.

(3.) The Seeds Act, 1966 (Central Act No.54 of 1966) (for short 'the Act') is an enactment for regulating the quality of certain seeds for sale and matters connected therewith. The Statement of Objects and Reasons, which accompanied the Bill, which was enacted as Act No.54 of 1966, set out that the Bill was in the interest of regulating the quality of certain seeds such as seeds of food crops, cotton seeds etc., to be sold for purposes of agriculture and in the interest of increased agricultural production in the Nation. The Bill sought to achieve this governmental purpose by the constitution of a Central Seed Committee consisting of representatives of the Central Government and the State Governments, the National Seeds Corporation and other interests, to advise those governments on all matters arising out of the proposed legislation. The other purposes of the legislation, inter alia, are the fixing of minimum standards for germination, purity and other quality factors; testing the seeds for quality factors at the seed testing laboratories to be established by the Central Government and the State Governments; creation of seed inspection and certification service in each State and grant of licences and certificates to dealers in seeds and for restricting the export, import and inter-State movement of non-descript seeds. To effectuate the purposes delineated in the Statements of Objects and Reasons, the Act, inter alia, provides for regulation of sale of seeds of notified kinds and varieties in Section 7 of the Act. Section 8 of the Act empowers the State Government or the Central Government, in consultation with the State Government to, by notification in the Official Gazette, establish a certification agency for the State to carry out the functions entrusted to the certification agency by or under the Act. Section 8-A of the Act, which was introduced into the Act by the Seeds (Amendment) Act, 1972, provides for the establishment of a Central Seed Certification Board, to advise the Central Government and the State Governments on all matters relating to certification and for co-ordination of functions of the State Seed Certification Agencies established under Section 8 of the Act. The composition of the Central Seed Certification Board, as postulated under Section 8-A (2) of the Act, discloses a substantial input of expertise in the area of agriculture from the governmental departments as well as the agriculture universities.