PURAN SINGH JATAV Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE grievance of the petitioners in this Public Interest Litigation is that the tractor manufacturing companies have not mentioning proper Horse Power due to which farmers are getting tractors of less Horse Power.

(2.) THE petitioners pleaded that the respondent No.4, an Institute established by Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India authorized to check and test Horse Power of all the tractors manufactured by various companies. The farmers are entitled to get subsidy on tractors if the Horse Power is less than 35 HP. In accordance with the standards prescribed by Bureau of India Standards (BIS), Horse Power of a tractor shall be based on the power obtained at Power Take Off ("PTO') of the tractor and this power is available at rear side of tractor to transmit the total available power. It is less than the gross engine power because there is some loss in transmission system i. e. gear box. However, some of the tractor manufacturing companies have not mentioning this PTO Power on their vouchers. They have been mentioning total Power of tractor which is less than the PTO power. The companies are following the procedure in regard to fixing the Horse Power on the basis of SAE Power, which is the raw power of the engine not the available power PTO which is prescribed by the BIS. Hence, the farmers have been receiving tractors of less power.

(3.) THE respondent No.4, which is an Official Testing Agency for testing of tractors and other allied agriculture machineries, working under the administrative control of Union Ministry of Agriculture, in its reply pleaded that the Institute has been carrying testing of tractors under the head "Commercial Testing" to evaluate the performance of tractors, so the nationalized Bank through National Agriculture Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development Bank [NABARD] could decide eligibility of tractors of different companies for providing financial assistance under various schemes of Government. The testing of tractor is assessed and based on Indian Standards Code:122072008. Provision has been made for labeling plates of tractors and it is mandatory the labeling plates fixed on the tractors, to display following information: