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CHIEF
JUSTICE
AND
SACHIN
SHANKAR
MAGADUM
WP
10681/2019
13/01/2021 A detailed order was passed on 11th December 2020 about implementation of the Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (for short 'the Crop Insurance Scheme'). Some of the details in the
Operational Guidelines issued by the Government of India have been set out in the said
order. The second issue dealt with by the said order is about rendering a helping hand to
the families of the farmers who have committed suicide.
2. The Operational Guidelines issued by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and
Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, New Delhi (Annexure-F) are on
record. The guidelines provide for establishing District Level Grievance Redressal
Committees and State Level Grievance Redressal Committee. In this petition, large number
of complaints have been annexed right from page 218 addressed to various Authorities
complaining about non-implementation of the Crop Insurance Scheme.
3. We have perused the affidavit of Shri Brijesh Kumar Dikshit, I.F.S., filed by the State
Government on 12th January 2021. Prima facie, it appears that the said affidavit shows
insensitivity on the part of the Officers of the State in dealing with implementation of the
Crop Insurance Scheme. In paragraph 4 of the affidavit, it is stated thus:
4. As of now, the Government has neither received any complaint from any farmer of
Shahpur Taluk, Yadgiri Distirct, regarding any non-payment or delayed payment of the
premium payable to insurance companies for the above said period, nor have insurance
companies complained of any such non-payment or delayed payment of the premium.
4. As stated earlier, large number of complaints were made to different Authorities which
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are annexed to the petition. One of the complaints is by the High Court Legal Services
Authority as well. The copies of the complaints annexed to the petition bear the
acknowledgments. Therefore, the statement that the Government has not received any
complaints from any farmer is completely incorrect. Moreover, Grievance Redressal
Committees have been formed as late as on 28th June 2019 as can be seen from paragraph
2 of the affidavit. We fail to understand when the copies of the complaints are annexed to
the petition itself, how a bold statement can be made by the Officer that the Government
has not received any complaints. We direct the State Government to ensure that the
complaints which are annexed to the petition and other complaints received by it are
immediately placed before the concerned Committee constituted under the order dated 28th
June 2019.
5. In the said affidavit, the details of the number of proposals/policies of the farmers of
Shahapur Taluk, Yadgiri District for the years 2019-20 and 2020-21 have not been set out.
What is shocking is the statements made in paragraph 6 of the affidavit which reads thus:
6. It is submitted that for the period 2016-17 to 2018-19, in case of 189 proposals as of date,
a total amount of Rs.16,00,000 (Rupees Sixteen Lakhs only) payable to the farmers has
bounced back from the account of those formers to which they have been sent, due to
various reasons including Aadhaar not linked with the account, account being dormant etc.
This is kept in Escrow account with the Department of Agriculture and the same is paid as
and when the lacunae or technical defects affecting such payment and attached to the
account holder are cleared by the beneficiary farmer or is requested to be paid to any other
different bank account of the beneficiary as per his/her request. Since, there has been no
complaint from any farmer nor any finding that any farmer in Shahpur Taluk was eligible to
receive crop insurance claims but has been denied so, there was no occasion for referring
any case to the District level Grievance Redressal Committee as yet. It is further submitted
that the Petitioners may approach the District Level Grievance Redressal Committee of
Yadgir District, if there are any such cases of any eligible beneficiary having been denied
his/her rightful claim and this Government would consider the same at the earliest.
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(underline supplied)
6. It is obvious that the State Government has all the details of the farmers whose 189
proposals were approved. Only on the ground that their accounts are non-functional that
the said farmers have been deprived of the benefits under the policies. There is no attempt
made to contact the farmers and ensure that they receive the benefits under the policy.
7. The Chart which is a part of paragraph 5 of the said affidavit records that 184 farmers who
were entitled to claim under the Crop Insurance Scheme for the year 2016-17 have not
received the amounts. Two other farmers for the year 2017-18 and three other farmers for
the year 2018-19 have not received amounts though they are entitled to their claims under
the policies. It was quite easily possible for the Government to locate the said 189 farmers
through Village Accountants and Village Officers. However, that was not done.
8. We, therefore, direct the State Government to identify the said 189 farmers and to ensure
that payments of the amounts to which they are entitled under the Crop Insurance Scheme
are made to them within a period of one week from today. As stated in the affidavit, the
amounts are in the Escrow account of the Agricultural Department. We direct the State
Government to report compliance on this aspect within two weeks. While reporting
compliance, the details of the dates on which the amounts were earlier attempted to be
transmitted to the accounts of the farmers shall be furnished so that the Court can consider
of directing payment of interest to the farmers.
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9. We also direct the State Government to place the figures of 2019-20 and 2020-21 on
record. While reporting compliance, the State Government shall also state whether all the
complaints which are the subject matter of this petition have been placed before the
concerned Grievance Redressal Committees.
10. As regards extending a helping hand to the families of the farmers who have committed
suicide, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits the Schemes which are
referred in paragraph 7 of the affidavit of the State Government are applicable only to the
families of those farmers who have committed suicide who had taken loan from financial
institutions or banks. He submitted that there are number of cases of farmers committing
suicide who had taken loan from individual money lenders. The State Government will make
this aspect clear about the entitlement of the families of such farmers to receive the
benefits. The State Government shall also set out the outer limit within which the Regional
Commissioner, Kalaburagi Division will submit a report after holding an inquiry as directed
by this Court.
11. List the petition on 12th February 2021.
12. The learned counsel appearing for the first respondent seeks time to file statement of
objections. Time is granted till 10th February 2021.
