B NARASIMHA REDDY Vs. INDO-AMERICAN HYBRID SEEDS (INDIA) LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED by the order of the District Forum, Chittoor in C.D. No. 129/1999, the complainant preferred this appeal.

(2.) THE brief facts as set out in the complaint are that the complainant purchased 3000 banana tissue culture plants from the opposite party for raising in 3 acres of land in March, 1998 at Rs. 6 per plant by paying a total of Rs. 18,260. The tissue culture plants are meant for uniform growth, size of fruit and duration of harvesting period is less. It is the case of the complainant that though the complainant made the land ready for transplantation of banana plants by applying manure and fertilizers, there is no uniform growth in size and the size of the fruit is varying and got only 600 bunches from 3000 plants and the crop was ready for harvest in the month of June, 1999. The complainant approached the Horticultural Officer, who inspected and issued a certificate dated 15.8.1999 stating that the plants supplied by the opposite party were defective. The complainant approached the District Forum alleging that the expected normal yield for 3000 plants is Rs. 2,25,000 but the present expected yield is only Rs. 30,000 and that he has spent Rs. 1,00,000 to raise the tissue and suffered damages to a tune of Rs. 1,90,000.

(3.) THE opposite party filed written objections contending that the complainant is not a Consumer and that they have supplied large quantity of the same varieties of tissue culture banana plants even in Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharastra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab during the same period and their performance is good and the problem to the complainant is only due to improper and inadequate cultivation practice followed. The pathologist and virologist of the opposite party s company tested the quality before selecting the mother plants and every batch of plants selected for dispatch are screened for virus before they are delivered to the customers. The opposite party further stated that his Assistant Marketing Manager in his report dated 15.9.1999 has observed that the land is sloppy and water holding is more and observed major defect that the complainant has purchased the net pot plants in March, 1998 and planted in the field in June, 1998 and the plants were in the poly bags for more than 3 months as against 1.5 to 2 months and because the plantlets remained in the poly bags for longer period might have developed pot bound effect in the initial rooting system which resulted in delayed root development, bunch emergence/formation and initial growth of the suckers. They contended that the complainant having adopted the flow of irrigation, he should have provided feeding channel, absorption of steady moisture as well as nutrients for proper and continuous growth. The Assistant Marketing Officer reported that the root growth is very poor because of the alkalinity of the soil and very high PH which was confirmed by the soil test report affecting the availability of major nutrients, i.e., organic carbon and particularly the potash which is major ingredient in tissue composition of banana are low, the yield is also low. The presence of nematode lesions on the regions indicate poor performance which affected leaves as well as petioles and normally there should be a dozen healthy leaves at the time of bunch formation and due to leaf canopy being reduced the bunches got exposed to direct sun which resulted in cracking and yellowing. It is further contended that presence of parthenium and other perennial indicate neglected plantation and that banana cultivation require individual ring basin irrigation through independent feeding channel whereas the complainant followed flood irrigation and due to lack of wind break of sesbania species around the plantation caused the tearing of leaves which reduced the photosynthesis efficiency by 25% and became factor for decline in yield.