Agro-chemical Industry Opposes Maharashtra Bills Criminalizing Offences

New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) Leading agro-chemical industry bodies -- CLI, CCFI, PMFAI and ACFI -- have opposed the criminalisation of various offences, which the Maharashtra government has proposed to push through four bills in the winter session of the legislative assembly, starting in Nagpur from Thursday.

In a joint statement, Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), CropLife India (CLI), Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) and Agro Chem Federation of India (ACFI) said, "The bills are disproportionately harsh besides being ambiguous and contrary to the initiatives of the central government for ease of doing business and decriminalisation".

"There are several stringent provisions with suitable clauses for punishing those who fail to adhere to the requirements under the Insecticide Act, which is a central government act," the industry bodies said.

In case, the Maharashtra government is seeking additional powers to act against adulterated, fake, and duplicate inputs, in such case, these powers cannot be applied to genuine manufacturers, they said and urged that "the bills as proposed should not be passed".

The manufacturers and sellers of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides have made repeated submissions in the past two months to the Maharashtra Agriculture Minister and officials and now plead for an urgent hearing before the commencement of the Winter Session at Nagpur, they added.

The industry bodies said they have communicated their concerns to the state government when the response was sought on the four proposed bills.

The first bill proposes to make special provisions to provide compensation to farmers for loss caused due to the sale and use of adulterated, non-standard or misbranded seeds, fertilisers or insecticides in Maharashtra and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The second bill proposes to amend the Insecticides Act 1968 in its application in Maharashtra, while the third bill proposes to amend the Seeds Act 1955.

The fourth bill proposes to further amend the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drugoffenders, Dangerous persons, Video pirates, sand smugglers, ad persons engaged in black marketing of Essential Commodities Act 1981.

According to industry bodies, the MPDA Act provides for preventive detention of offenders. Even minor offences are cognisable and non-bailable.

"The police will have unlimited powers to arrest but are ill-equipped to deal with technicalities of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and central laws governing them," they said.

They also feared that the new amendments grant a free run to the law enforcers and put manufacturers and sellers at their peril, with likely possibilities of harassment.

"These amendments make it virtually impossible for genuine manufacturers/stakeholders to conduct business in Maharashtra, under the looming threat of arrest and detention in police custody without recourse to bail for even minor offences, no officer of any company would be willing to be nominated as the 'responsible person'," they added.

CropLife India Chairman KC Ravi said, "Sufficient penal provisions are already available to law enforcing agencies to act and weed out spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. For instance, the Agrochemical sector is governed by the Insecticide Act 1968, which enables the Maharashtra Directorate of Agriculture to prosecute errant pesticide manufacturers".

A single complaint from a farmer on problems with pesticide or seed or insecticide could land corporates in trouble, he added.

"Any person nominated as the company's representative could be arrested by police on a complaint lodged by a farmer and the clause under which the arrest is made is non-bailable," he added.

The agri-inputs industry -- comprising seed manufacturers, pesticide makers, crop protection and formulation manufacturers -- is in particular, worried over clubbing of the four sectors with dangerous persons, drug offenders and slum lords, the statement said.

Pradip P Dave of PMFAI said, "We, along with the entire Indian agro-chemical industry, are extremely concerned with the aforesaid bills introduced by Maharashtra to indiscriminately make many offences under various acts cognisable and non-bailable irrespective of the gravity of the offence".

Such provisions, if implemented, would create immense fear of unfair prosecutions among the genuine manufacturers and authorised distributors who have been working hard for the last several decades to provide quality seeds, fertilisers and insecticides to farmers, he said.