The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notice to the Central and the State governments and the Agricultural Insurance Company India Limited on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking direction to the insurer to disburse crop insurance claims made by over six lakh farmers to the tune of ₹450 crore in 2015-16.
Passing the order, the First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar directed the governments and the insurer to file their reply within two weeks and posted the PIL to June 29 for further hearing.
According to the petitioner, G. Giridharan of Tamilaga Kaveri Vivasayigal Sangam, the insurance firm had refused to release the claims as the State government failed to pay the premium on time.
Payments
After a representation was made by the association, through a government order, the government released the payments on February 13, 2017. But despite the payment, the insurance firm was still refusing to release the funds claiming discrepancies in the report filed by the government, prompting the petitioner to approach the court.
Pointing out that the sum assured had been fixed as ₹20,000 per acre of crop loss for 2015-16, the petitioner said for this, farmers had to pay 1% of the amount as premium while the Central and the State governments had to bear 0.45% and 0.55% of the cost of premium respectively.
