DEPUTY DIRECTOR, COFFEE BOARD Vs. K.A. ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Revision Petitions have been filed against the impugned Order dtd. 30/11/2016 passed by the Ld. State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Kerala in FA No. 755-756/2015 and FA No. 527/2015, vide which the Orders of the Ld. District Forum affirming the Complaints were upheld.

(2.) The Revision Petitions arise from the common impugned Order and involve two Complaints which are identical in all material particulars, therefore these Petitions are being disposed of by this common Order. However, for the sake of convenience, RP/2516/2017 is treated as the lead case, and the facts enumerated hereinafter are extracted from this Complaint.

(3.) The factual circumstances leading up to the present Petition are that the Complainant/Respondent No. 1, a coffee cultivator, had taken an agricultural loan in 1999 from the Respondent No. 2 (in RP/2516-2517/2017)/Petitioner (in RP/2612/2017)/Bank for coffee cultivation. Due to severe drought and a decline in the price of agricultural produce, the Complainant was unable to repay the loan, leading to its becoming overdue. Despite the loan being rescheduled, the Complainant was still unable to settle it, resulting in further overdue payments. In 2010, the Government of India, through the Petitioner/Coffee Board, introduced the Coffee Debt Relief Package (CDRP) to support small coffee planters like the Complainants, who had long overdue loans. Under this package, small planters with less than 10 hectares of coffee holdings who availed loans before 2002, and had outstanding dues as of 30/6/2009, were eligible for relief. The package stipulated that 50% of the outstanding loan, up to a maximum of Rs.5.00 lakhs, would be borne by the Government of India, 25% would be borne by the respective banks, and the remaining 25% would be rescheduled for repayment.