Medaram Venu And Others Petitioner(S) v. Penthala Mahendar (S).

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.

4. It is settled legal proposition that a revisional Forum will not be justified in interfering with the finding of fact returned by the Fora below unless the same is shown to be perverse, in the sense that no reasonable person, acting on the material available to him could have reasonably returned the finding which the Fora below have returned.

5. The report of inspection dated 3.12.2013, to the extent it is relevant reads as under:-

"1.Total area of the Chilli field is about 30 guntas with 3 different hybrids. Anuj -• (Welcome Company.) -15 guntas

Swetha -504• (Sal Seeds pvt ltd) -7.5 guntas

Golden Hot• (Seminis Company) -7.5 guntas

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Above three Chilli hyrids were transplanted on l5th June (28 Days After Sowing)

2. Observed that there was no pest and disease incidence.

3. Farmer applied same fertilizers and chemicals to all the three hybrids.

4. Swetha and Golden Hot hybrids are bearing very good quality crop (Pod size is about 10-12 cm and the farmer told that he had taken 8 pickings from Swetha and Golden hot hybrids, whereas Anuj hybrid chilli is bearing very small sized (Pod size is. About 2-3 cm) and rounded fruits and he did not get single picking.

5. Even though he cultivated 3 hybrids with 'the same management practices Anuj hybrid produce less fruit set.

6. It is not due to any nutritional deficiency because Swetha and Golden hot are producing good pods in the same conditions.

7. The reason for poor fruit set and pod size may be due to hybrid (genetical) characters."

6. The report of inspection dated 31.12.2013 submitted by Dr. R.V.S.K. Reddy and Dr. C.Venkata Ramana, to the extent it is relevant reads as under:-

" - At the time of inspection, the three hybrids raised for the green chili are free from pests and disease, but the Swetha-504 (Sai Seeds Pvt. Ltd.) and Golden Hot (Seminis Company) are in full bearing, whereas in Anuj (Welcome Company) the bearing was very less.

The standing crop is not uniform for any of the character and 60% of population was comprised of off types (out crosses, sterile pants, and admixtures etc,) except for plant height.

• In these 60% of the plants, there are sterile plants (plants without fruits and small bulged flowers and fruits), plants with very short and stout fruits, plants with very slender pods and plants also showing variation in the leaf colour.

• Wide variability is observed for the fruit characters, viz., Slender medium long light green pods, Slender medium long green pods, Short stout dark green pods, Long dark green pods and Slender yellow pods. This type of fruit characters is not suitable for fresh market. Uniform light green colour, medium long and little bold pod is highly preferred type for the fresh market.

• - The suspected sterility/off types in the plants population was erratic and did not follow a particular genetic ratio or segregation. This indicates that the population of the said generation is not pure and uniform. As this type of

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expressions only occur in the advanced generations of hybrid, the genuineness of the seed is at question and is to be ascertained at this juncture by the breeder of the concerned company.

- It can be concluded from the observations that population of the said hybrid is not uniform in plant habit, fruit set, fruit shape, fruit size and leaf colour raising the question of genuineness of the given F1 seed."

7. It would thus be seen that even the Scientists who inspect the field of the complainant found that the generation was not pure and uniform, the sterility in the plant population was erratic and did not follow a particular genetic ratio or segregation. They felt that the population of the generation was not pure and uniform in the plant habit, fruit seed, fruit shape, fruit size etc. thereby raising a question of genuineness of the said seed. The finding of fact returned by the Fora below being based upon the report of Scientists, who were experts in the field, cannot be said to be perverse, so as to call for interference by this Commission in exercise of its revisonal jurisdiction. This is more so, when no scientific evidence was produced by the petitioners, before the concerned District Forum to prove that there was no defect in the seeds of the variety sold to the complainant.

8. For the reasons stated hereinabove, I find no merit in the revision petition, which is accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs.

......................J

V.K. JAIN

PRESIDING MEMBER

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