The Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday sought the response of the State government to a public interest litigation petition filed against a Government Order issued on February 21 restricting input subsidy to be given to farmers for crop loss to a maximum of five acres per farmer.
Justices A. Selvam and N. Authinathan directed Special Government Pleader M. Govindan to take notice on behalf of the Revenue Secretary and adjourned the case till June 9 for filing a counter affidavit.
R. Mariappan, a farmer from Yettayapuram in Thoothukudi district, had filed the PIL petition questioning the “discrimination” being shown between big and small farmers in the GO.
The petitioner said that the government had taken into consideration the huge deficit rainfall and other adverse factors during the north-east monsoon last year before declaring all 32 districts in the State drought-affected.
Accordingly, a G.O. was issued on January 10 this year for providing input subsidy for farmers who had suffered 33% of crop loss and more.
Subsequently, the Director of Agriculture submitted a proposal to the government stating that 18,73,337 hectares under agricultural crops such as paddy, millets, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and perennial crops had been affected due to recent drought and therefore his directorate alone would require ₹2,049 crore for providing assistance to those farmers.
Similarly, the Director of Horticulture submitted a proposal seeking ₹196.88 crore for providing assistance to farmers for loss of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, spices, plantations, flowers and medicinal crops grown on 1,63,695 hectares.
The Director of Sericulture too sent a separate proposal seeking ₹1.09 crore for loss of mulberry crops on 1,480 hectares.
Three proposals
The Revenue Secretary placed all three proposals before a high-level committee meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on February 21 and obtained sanction for the entire sum from State Disaster Relief Fund.
The Chief Minister also ordered immediate disbursement of the input subsidy by crediting it into the bank accounts of affected farmers.
However, the Government Order issued on the same day said the relief would be restricted to five acres for big farmers as per the National Disaster Relief Fund and SDRF norms, and that small and marginal farmers would be entitled to get relief for entire area of their landholding.
The PIL petitioner said many farmers who had taken more than five acres of land on annual lease would be affected severely if their loss was not compensated adequately by the State despite them having suffered the most due to deficient rainfall and consequent unavailability of water for agriculture.
