Court directs authorities to amend the policy and issue guidelines within six months to extend subsidy to farmers’ collective

The court noted that the government is releasing subsidy of several thousands of crores even to unmetered irrigation pump sets of individual farmers contrary to the law, which prescribes proper measurement of power consumption by installing meters, as the subsidy is released to escoms merely on the basis of estimated consumption of power by each unmetered irrigation pump set.  
The court noted that the government is releasing subsidy of several thousands of crores even to unmetered irrigation pump sets of individual farmers contrary to the law, which prescribes proper measurement of power consumption by installing meters, as the subsidy is released to escoms merely on the basis of estimated consumption of power by each unmetered irrigation pump set.  | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

The court directed the government of Karnataka and all the electricity supply companies (Escoms) to review, reconsider, and amend the existing policy framework governing the agricultural power subsidies, ensuring that farmer societies are treated at par with individual farmers.

Six-month deadline
The authorities must frame and notify appropriate guidelines within a reasonable period, preferably within six months, to extend power tariff subsidy to registered farmer societies, in a manner that aligns with the principles of equality, promotes cooperative farming, and advances the broader goals of sustainable agricultural development, the court said.

Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum issued the directions while partly allowing the petition filed by Shrishail Irappa Kempwad, secretary of Sri Shrimant (Tatya) Patil Neeru Balakedrara Sangha, and Thammanna Annappa Pujari, secretary, Ravalanath Yeta Neeru Balakedarara Sangha of Athani taluk in Belagavi district.

The court said that the authorities, while amending the policy, could extended subsidy to societies with conditions based on per capita consumption, or landholding, or aggregate power consumption per member of the society.

Denial arbitrary
“The denial of power subsidy to registered farmer societies, solely on the ground that their collective consumption exceeds a prescribed limit, is hereby declared unconstitutional and arbitrary,” the court said.

“The practice of differentiating between individual farmers and societies, based purely on collective consumption, is found to be inconsistent with the constitutional mandate of equality before the law under Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” the court observed.

“Denial of subsidies to societies defies logic as the government, which encourages cooperative farming and resource-sharing among small and marginal farmers, cannot deny subsidy to these societies solely because their collective power consumption exceeds a prescribed limit, even when the per capita consumption of each individual farmer may be lower than the prescribed threshold for individual subsidy eligibility”.

Denying subsidies to farmers’ societies amounts to penalising farmers who organise into collectives, and discourages cooperative farming, which is a critical aspect of ensuring long-term sustainability in Indian agriculture, as it reduces costs and increases efficiency, the court said.

Unmetered connections
The court noted that the government is releasing subsidy of several thousands of crores even to unmetered irrigation pump sets of individual farmers contrary to the law, which prescribes proper measurement of power consumption by installing meters, as the subsidy is released to escoms merely on the basis of estimated consumption of power by each unmetered irrigation pump set.

The current practice of allowing subsidies for unmetered installations based on estimated consumption while denying subsidy to farmer societies despite their per capita consumption being within the eligibility limit, constitutes a clear violation of both statutory and constitutional mandates, the court said while pointing out that this action is not only legally flawed, but also defeats the very purpose of agricultural subsidies, discourages cooperative farming, and promotes inefficiency and wastefulness in electricity consumption.