MEDARAM VENU Vs. PENTHALA MAHENDAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The complainant who is an agriculturist purchased chilly seeds of various makes from the petitioner No.3. The seeds purchased by him included Anuj seeds manufactured by petitioner No.1. Petitioner No.2 is the authorized dealer of petitioner No.1, in respect of the seeds manufactured by it. The chilli seeds were sown by the complainant into his fields. His allegation is that Anuj chilli seeds did not yield and did not grow though he had duly cultivated the land feeding water and natural fertilizers. This is also his case that the chilli seeds of another make, namely, Swetha resulted in good growth and yield. On a complaint made by him to the Assistant Director of Horticulture, the fields of the complainant were inspected by a team consisting of Horticulture Officers, one D. Srimivasa Reddy, SMS (Plant Protection) Dr. Naresh, SMS (Agronomy) and G. Venu Gopal, SMS (Horticulture) who interalia reported that Anuj Hybrid seeds had produced less fruits as compared to the seeds of other varieties namely, Swetha and Golden Hot. Later, the fields of the complainant were also inspected by Dr. R.V.S.K Reddy, Principal Scientist (Horticulture), Vegetable Research Station, Rajendra Nagar and Dr. C.Venkata Ramana Scientist (Horticulture) Chillies Improvement Scheme, HRS, Lam, Guntur. In their Report, they interalia concluded that the population of the generation was not pure and uniform and that the population of Anuj Hybrid was not uniform in plant habit, fruits set, fruit shape, fruit size and leaf colour, raising the question of genuineness of the seed.

(2.) Alleging defect in the Anuj chilli seeds sold to him, the complainant approached the concerned District Forum by way of a consumer complaint. The complaint was resisted by the petitioners including petitioner No.1 which is the manufacturer of Anuj seeds. It was interalia stated in its reply that it was releasing the product in market only after quality control tests in laboratory and field and after examination by Govt. Authorities. It was claimed that they had sold Anuj seeds to a large number of farmers who had reported adequate yield and did not make any complaint with respect to the quality of the seeds. It was also claimed by petitioner No.3 that he had a dispute with the complainant with respect to a chit fund and the consumer complaint was motivated on account of the said dispute.

(3.) The District Forum allowed the complaint and directed the petitioners to pay a sum of Rs.2,75,000/- to the complainant as compensation along with Rs.2000/- as the cost of litigation. Being aggrieved from the order of the District Forum, the petitioners approached the concerned State Commission by way of an appeal. The said appeal also having been dismissed, the petitioners are before this Commission by way of this revision petition.