Court admits plea against single judge order on cotton seeds sale

A two-judge bench of the High Court at Hyderabad comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice SV Bhatt on Wednesday took on file an appeal filed by the Telangana government questioning the order of a single judge on the power of the government to fix the trait value or royalty on cotton seeds, even as it fixes the purchase price.

The bench heard Senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan for the State and Abhishek Singhvi for Mahico Mosanto the MNC which had filed the writ petition. A single judge had suspended the order of the government on the ground that it had no power to fix the trait value.

Telangana State on Wednesday complained to the Hyderabad High Court that companies like Monsanto and their Indian associates like Mahico Monsanto have been exploiting the impoverished farmers in Telangana with their exorbitant cotton seed prices.

The State said that its effort to rein in such unscrupulous market players was negated by a single judge who stayed its intervention by an interim order. The State pointed out that while Monsanto is taking only Rs 23 as royalty per a pack of BT Cotton seeds, its Indian partner Mahico along with several seed manufacturers with whom it entered into agreements have been fleecing farmers by collecting Rs 1250 as royalty per pack. The bench said that it would hear the appeal and connected cases on December 23.