Case Law Details
HC held that denial of benefit of waiver of crop loans to the farmers who had cultivated lands exceeding 5 acres is a clear discrimination violating Article 14 of the Constitution of India. In such view of the matter, we hold that the petitioner is entitled for the relief as prayed for. In the result, the writ petition is allowed with a direction to the respondents to extend the crop loan waiver scheme in G.O.Ms.No.50, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection (CC1) Department dated 23.05.2016 and G.O.Ms.No.59, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection (CC1) Department dated 28.06.2016 to all the farmers including the farmers whose land holding is more than 5 acres and we further direct the first respondent to issue necessary consequential order extending the impugned scheme to all the farmers and the said order shall be issued within three months from today. Consequently we restrain the respondents from initiating action against the farmers for recovery of the crop loan outstanding due to the Co-operative Societies / Banks as on 31.03.2016. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions are closed. No costs.
Full Text of the Judgment is as follows :-
1. The weather became erratic. The monsoon failed. The rainfall was very poor. The dams and water bodies dried up. Mettur dam completely failed due to the water dispute with the Government of Karnataka. The crops withered away. The cattle in the agricultural farms died. This was between 2011 to 2014. In 2015, it was floods across the State of Tamil Nadu which drowned the crops. The farming community suffered irreparable loss. They were pushed into utter poverty. They could not repay the crop loan raised from the cooperative societies / banks and other financial institutions. But the societies / banks and other financial institutions did not stop taking legal action to recover the said loan outstanding. Unable to bear the loss and the pressure and harassment from the financial institutions, many farmers took the extreme step of committing suicide. Therefore, in an attempt to voice these grievances of the farmers, various agriculturists associations including the petitioner made demands to the Government, both at the Center and at the State, to extend their helping hands by granting relief to the farmers so as to liberate them from penury and to prevent further suicides. There were strikes and agitations by the farmers as their grievances were not heard.
2. When things stood thus, in the year 2016, the general election for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly was The election was held during the month of May, 2016. Some of the major political parties who contested in the election gave assurances to the farmers that the crop loans raised by them would be waived by the new Government to be formed. After the election, the newly elected Government took charge on 23.05.2016. On the very same day, to fulfill the promise made in the election manifesto of the party which regained power, the Government, issued G.O. Ms. No.50, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection (CC1) Department dated 23.05.2016 granting waiver of outstanding crop loan for medium term (agriculture) loan and long term (farm sector) loan issued to “Small” and “Marginal Farmers” by the Cooperative Societies / Banks as on 31.03.20 16.
3. For the effective implementation of the said Government Order, the Government issued guidelines by way of G.O.Ms.No. 59, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection (CC1) Department dated 28.06.2016. Thereafter, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies issued a Circular in Circular No.Na.Ka.No. 47/2006-07/T.1 dated 07.07.2006 issuing further guidelines to the cooperative societies / banks for the effective implementation of these two Government orders.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
Author Bio
