National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): V.K Jain (Presiding Member), J. allowed a revision petition filed by a farmer seeking enhancement of compensation provided for loss of his crops.
Petitioners herein were farmers who had bought seeds from the respondent society. The resultant crops were not up to the mark even though the petitioners had followed proper instructions and procedures and had taken due care and precautions required for the said crop. Aggrieved from the financial loss incurred, the petitioners approached the District Forum but their complaints were dismissed by the forum. Consequently, they approached the State Commission which allowed their appeals and directed the respondents to pay compensation to the petitioners. However, since the petitioners were not satisfied with the quantum of the compensation awarded to them by the State Commission, they approached the Commission by way of these revision petitions. The petitioners also submitted applications seeking condonation of delay in filing the revision petitions.
The Court condoned the delay considering the fact that the petitioners were poor farmers who were not awarded even the minimum price of the crop while assessing the compensation for the loss of the crop.
The Court, calculating the compensation for the loss of the crop at Rs 17,000 per quintal, awarded the petitioner, Vinod Kumar, Rs 3,40,000 and the petitioner, Vijay Kumar, Rs 1,02,000 in addition to compensation for the mental harassment and the cost of litigation awarded by the State Commission. The balance payment to the complainants was to be made within eight weeks from the date of the judgment, failing which it would carry interest at 9 per cent per annum from the date of institution of the complaint.[Vijay Kumar v. IFFCO, 2019 SCC OnLine NCDRC 78, decided on 17-05-2019]
