- (1.) Present Special Civil Application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by the petitioner's Cooperative Society for an appropriate writ, direction and order quashing and setting aside the order dated 29.9.2008 passed by respondent no.2 and consequently to direct the respondent to immediately pay the insurance claim of Kharif 2005 season of Kalyanpur Taluka as per the Taluka Unit. 1.1. It is also further prayed for an appropriate writ, direction and order directing the respondents to calculate and pay the claims of insurance for Kharif 2005 season of Kalyanpur Taluka of Jamnagar District as per the Taluka Unit as envisaged in National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (hereinafter referred to as "NAIS").
(2.) It is the case of the petitioners so pleaded in the petition that all the petitioners are registered cooperative societies registered under the provisions of Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act and their members are agriculturists carrying on agricultural activities in Kalyanpur Taluka in Jamnagar District. That the petitioner societies are affiliated through respondent no.4 Bank. That respondent no.4 Bank provides agricultural credit to its members and the petitioner societies obtain credit from respondent no.4 Bank. That the credit which the petitioners obtain from respondent no.4 Bank is disbursed to its members, which is insured under NAIS, which is a scheme of the Union of India for the welfare and benefit of the agriculturist. It is the case of the petitioners that the petitioner societies are members of the District Level Federal Societies. That the District Central Cooperative Bank provides loans for agriculture related activities to its members society. That the District Central Bank is financed by the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank at the State Level and the NABARD is national level finance agency for Agriculture and Rural Development. It is the case of the petitioners that therefore, whole setup is such that NABARD is the main source of finance at the national level and at the State level the State Cooperative Bank are the source of finance and at the District level the District Central Bank are the source of finance for agriculture and rural development. The District Central Bank in turn finance to the primary agriculture cooperative society like petitioners. 2.1. It is further the case on behalf of the petitioners that previously comprehensive crop insurance scheme (CCIS) was in existence but thereafter the Government of India found it necessary to make certain amendments in the scheme and a new scheme known as Rastriya Krishi Vima Yojna was implemented on 16.7.1999 from the year 1999-2000. That under the new scheme, comprehensive risk insurance is provided to cover yield losses arising due to non preventable risk i.e. (1) Natural Fire and Lighting (2) Strom, Hailstrom, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado etc (3) Flood, Inudation and landslide (4) Drought, Dry Spells, (5) Pest/ Diseases etc. Losses arising out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and other preventable risk shall be excluded. 2.2. It is the case of the petitioners that objective of NAIS is to (1) to provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases (2) to encourage the farmers to adopt progressive farming practices, high value in-puts and higher technology in Agriculture (3) to help stabilize farm incomes, particularly in disaster years. That the aforesaid scheme is extended to all the States and Union Territories of India and the benefit of the scheme was to be provided to all farmers including share croppers, tenant farmers, growing the notified crops in the notified areas and all of them are eligible for coverage. That the scheme covers following groups of farmers:- (a). On a compulsory basis: all farmers growing notified crops and availing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO), loans from Financial Institutions i.e. Loanee Farmers. (b). On a voluntary basis: All other farmers growing notified crops (i.e. Non-Loanee farmers) who opt for the scheme. 2.3. It is the case of the petitioners that as per the scheme, scheme was to be implemented and worked out as per the area approach and unit of insurance i.e. Defined Areas for each notified crop for widespread calamities and on individual basis for localized calamities such as hailstrom. Landside, cyclone and flood. The Defined Area (i.e. unit area of insurance) may be a Gram Panchayat, Mandal, Hobil, Circle, Phirka, Block, Taluka etc. to be decided by the State / UT Government. However, each participating State / UT Government will be required to reach the level of Gram Panchayat as the unit in a maximum period of three years. It is the case of the petitioners that under the scheme, estimation of the crop is to be carried out by the State government. The State/ UT Government will plan and conduct the requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) for all notified crops in the notified insurance units in order to assess the crop yield. The State / UT Government will maintain single series of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and resultant Yield estimates, both for crop production estimates and crop insurance. That Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) shall be undertaken per unit area/ per crop on a sliding scale as below: JUDGEMENT_284_GHJ29_2012_1.html 2.4. That under the scheme, a technical Advisory Committee (T.A.C) comprising representatives from N.S.S.O Ministry of Agriculture (G.O.I) and IA shall be constituted to decide the sample size of CCEs and all other technical matters. 2.5. According to the petitioners under the scheme, levels of indemnity and threshold yield will be calculated as under: Three levels of indemnity, viz. 90%, 80% & 60% corresponding to Low Risk, Medium Risk & High Risk areas shall be available for all crops (cereals, millets, pulses & oilseeds and annual commercial / annual horticultural crops) based on Coefficient of Variation (C.V.) in yield of past 10 years data. However, the insured farmers of unit area may opt for higher level of indemnity on payment of additional premium based on actuarial rates. The threshold yield (TY) or Guaranteed yield for a crop in an insurance unit shall be the moving average based on past three years average yield in case of Rice & Wheat and give years average yield in case of other crops, multiplied by the level of indemnity. NATURE OF COVERAGE AND INDEMNITY If the "Actual Yield" (AY) per hectare of insured crop for the defined area (on the basis of requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) in the insured season, falls short of the specified "Threshold Yield" (TY), all the insured farmers growing that crop in the defined area are deemed to have suffered shortfall in their yield. The Scheme seeks to provide coverage against such contingency. Indemnity shall be calculated as per the following formula: (Shortfall in Yield/Threshold yield) X Sum Insured for the farmer. (Shortfall in Yield = Threshold Yield - Actual Yield for the Defined Area) INDEMNITY IN CASE OF LOCALLISED RISKS: Loss assessment and modified indemnity procedures in case of occurrence of localized perils, such as hailstrom, landslide, cyclone and flood where settlement of claims will be on individual basis, shall be formulated by IA in coordination with State/UT Government. The loss assessment of localized risks on individual basis will be experimented in limited areas, initially and shall be extended in the light of operational experience gained. The District Revenue administration will assist IA in assessing the extent of loss. PROCEDURE FOR APPROVAL & SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS: Once the Yield Data is received from the State/UT Government as per the prescribed cut-off dates, claims will be worked out and settled by IA. The claim cheques along with claim particulars will be released to the individual Nodal Banks. The Banks at the grass root level, in turn, shall credit the accounts of the individual farmers and display the particulars of beneficiaries on their notice board. In the context of localized phenomenon, viz. hailstrom, landslide, cyclone and flood, the IA shall evolve a procedure to estimate such losses at individual farmer level in consultation with DAC/State/UT. Settlement of such claims will be no individual basis between IA and insured. 2.6. The scheme further provides that the management of the scheme and monitoring and review will be controlled by CCIS. During each crop season, the agricultural situation will be closely monitored in the implementing States/U.T. The State/ U.T Department of agriculture and district administration shall set up district level monitoring committee (DLMC), who will provide fortnightly report of agricultural situation with details of areas sown, seasonal weather condition, pest, incidence, stage of crop failure etc. The operation of the scheme will be reviewed annually, and modification as may be required would be introduced. Periodic appraisal reports on the scheme would be prepared by Ministry of Agriculture, the Government of India, implementing agency. The benefits expected from the scheme are as under: A. Be a critical instrument of development in the field of crop production, providing financial support to the farmers in the event of crop failure. B. Encourage farmers to adopt progressive farming practices and higher technology in agriculture. C. Help in maintaining flow of agricultural credit. D. Provide significant benefits not merely to the insured farmers, but, to the entire community directly and indirectly through spillover and multiplier effects in terms of maintaining production & employment, generation of market fees, taxes etc. and net accretion to economic growth. E. Streamline loss assessment procedures and help in building up huge and accurate statistical base for crop production.
(3.) Shri Vaghela, learned advocate for the petitioners has vehemently submitted that as such the decision of the concerned respondent in considering yield data of District wise is absolute illegal and contrary to the scheme. It is submitted that the decision taken by the concerned respondent to consider the unit as per the District is contrary to clause 9, 10 and 11 of the NAIS. It is submitted that considering the provision of NAIS the loss and damages was to be assessed on the basis of Taluka unit, exercise for was to be undertaken by the State Government. It is submitted that even the State Government declared the defined area (taluka unit) by its resolution dated 13.4.2005 and consequently Kalyanpur Taluka of Jamnagar District and kharif groundnut crop was notified under the scheme, therefore, it is submitted that the claims of a notified crops was required to be calculated on the basis of actual yield of particular year derived on the basis of average Crop Cutting Experiments result of Kalyanpur Taluka. 3.1. It is further submitted by Shri Vaghela, learned advocate for the petitioners as such with respect to insurance claims of Dwarka Taluka which is just adjacent to the Kalyanpur Taluka the loss/ damages is considered on the basis of the Crop Cutting Experiments result of Taluka Unit and they have been paid the insurance accordingly. However, so far as Kalyanpur Taluka is concerned, the same is considering on the basis of the District Unit which is absolutely illegal and contrary to the scheme and even resolution issued by the State Government. Therefore, it is requested to allow the present Special Civil Application by directing the respondent to consider the claims of the petitioners and its members on the basis of average Crop Cutting Experiments result of Taluka Unit and not District Unit and consequently direct the respondent to pay insurance accordingly.;