PUSPALATA PUROHIT Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge has been made to the action of the opposite parties for not paying cost of expenditure of Rs.1,80,393/- and compensation worth of Rs.5 lakhs to the petitioner for the failure of cultivation of G-9 Tissue Culture Banana Plantlets (hereinafter called plantlets).

(2.) The unshorn details of the case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is a farmer who being persuaded by the National Horticulture Mission Scheme purchased 3086 numbers of plantlets from Regional Plant Resource Centre, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar after obtaining necessary permission of the Deputy Director, Horticulture Department, Sundargarh to purchase the same on deducting 50% subsidy. Be it stated, the petitioner purportedly planted after developing the land. The petitioner also applied necessary chemical and fertilizers but the cultivation failed and the plantlets did not grow. Ultimately the petitioner sustained huge loss in spite of the cultivation made by her as per the advice and guidelines of the Deputy Director, Horticulture.

(3.) On 8.10.2012 the petitioner made representation to the Collector, Sundargarh expressing the grievance against the Horticulture Department about the above loss sustained by her. The Collector had asked the Director of Horticulture to conduct enquiry. The Director conducted enquiry by constituting a team of Senior Scientist and Officer of Horticulture Department, who after due enquiry found that only 12-15 plants retained standard bunches but rest of the plants have been damaged due to sole negligence by the petitioner to apply proper fertilizer and proper cultivation. Since the petitioner was not served the report, she got the copy of the report through R.T.I. Act. After receiving such report under the R.T.I. Act, petitioner again requested the Collector to send a High Level Team for better enquiry but could not get any result for which the petitioner filed the present writ petition asking the opposite parties to pay the cost of the expenditure, i.e., Rs.1,80,393/- and compensation worth of Rs.5 lakhs for the failure of cultivation of plantlets.