The Madras High Court has asked the Centre to fix minimum price for green leaf produced by small tea growers.
The Court was allowing writ petitions filed by two tea small growers of the Nilgiris – R Dharuman of Kekatty village and Advocate K.B. Bojan of Kotagiri – in 2008 to direct the Union Government to fix a minimum price for green leaf.
In his order, Justice K. Chandru said: “The endeavour of the Government must be to provide a realistic price in respect of the green leaf produced by the small tea growers and must be based on the ground reality regarding the cost of production of such green leaf”.
Analysing various factors that had happened over the years, the Judge asked the Government to take note of the May 5, 2008 report of the Committee of The Institute of Cost Accountants of India. It may also call for any other study in this regard to arrive at a just and reasonable price to be paid for the green produced by small growers.
The court also asked the Government to exercise its powers under Section 30 of the Tea Act and call for a realistic report on the problems faced by Nilgiri small growers and thereafter, arrive at a scientific price-sharing formula between growers and manufacturers.