Dismissing an appeal in M/s National Seeds Corporation Ltd v M Madhusudhan Reddy & Another, the Supreme Court held that there was nothing in the Seeds Act, 1966, and the Seeds Rules, 1968, that would indicate that the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, are not available to farmers “who are otherwise covered by the wide definition of ‘consumer’ under section 2(d) of the Consumer Act”.
The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court also held that the remedy of arbitration is optional and despite the presence of an arbitration clause, a consumer is free to seek remedies before a consumer forum.
National Seeds Corporation had challenged orders of the National Consumer Commission that upheld the maintainability of consumer complaints filed by farmers under the Consumer Protection Act. National Seeds had argued that in view of the arbitration clause contained in the supply agreement, the only remedy available to the farmers was to apply for arbitration.
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The legislative and regulatory update is compiled by Nishith Desai Associates, a Mumbai-based law firm. The authors can be contacted at nishith@nishithdesai.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
