With the post of Plant Quarantine Signatory Officer lying vacant at the Plant Quarantine Station of Madurai airport, export of plant products has taken a hit. A plea seeking appointment of a Signatory Officer was filed before Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday.
The petitioner, S. A. Sayeed, representing ABS Xpress, a freight forwarding airlines agent dealing with export and import of cargo, said that the full-fledged Madurai International Airport was handling more than 100 tonnes of cargo, out of which 90% were perishable agricultural produce consisting mainly of vegetables and flowers, particularly rose and Madurai malli.
For the export of perishable agricultural products, Phytosanitary Certificate is mandatory. It is an official document issued by the plant protection office of the exporting country to the importing country. It certifies that the plants and plant products were inspected as per procedures and that they are free from quarantine pests. The Madurai airport lacks a Signatory Officer to issue the certificates. With the Madurai Plant Quarantine Office attached to the Chennai Regional Office, each time the exporter had to go all the way to Chennai to get the certificate, the petitioner claimed.
The petitioner contended that the certificate was valid for 24 hours and it was difficult to get the certificate in Chennai and produce it in Madurai within that period. This resulted in stagnation of exports, huge loss to exporters and also revenue loss to the government.
Though the Director of the Airports Authority of India, Madurai Airport, had raised the issue with the Directorate of Plant Protection and its Regional Office, no action was initiated in this regard. There was an urgent need to post a Signatory Officer to facilitate the export of products or at least attach the Madurai Plant Quarantine Station with the one in Tiruchi till then, the petitioner said.
A Division Bench of Justices C.T.Selvam and A.M.Basheer Ahamed said that it was an important issue and needed to be addressed expeditiously. The court adjourned the case for further hearing to next week.
