Haryana passes Bill aimed at preventing production, sale of substandard seeds

The Haryana Assembly on Thursday passed the Seeds Haryana Amendment Bill 2025 which provides for stringent provisions including imprisonment of one to three years and fine up to Rs 5 lakh to prevent the production and sale of substandard or fake seedsBesides the Insecticides Haryana Amendment Bill 2025 was also passed by the assembly aimed to have a stricter law in place to check the sale of counterfeit and substandard pesticides in the stateOn Thursday the state assembly passed a total of six BillsAn official statement said the Seeds Haryana Amendment Bill 2025 includes strict provisions aimed at both companies producing fake seeds and those selling themAs part of this amendment Section 19A has been added after Section 19 which addresses violations of Section 7 of the Seeds Act 1966 in Haryana To ensure stricter enforcement the state government has made such violations a cognizable and nonbailable offenceAccording to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill The Seeds Act 1966 was enacted to provide for regulating the quality of certain seeds for sale and for matters connected therewithIt is noticed that many producers dealers and sellers are engaged in production stocking sell import transport or distribution of seeds which are not as per standards The farmers are being sold such seeds which do not provide results for improvement of productivity of the farm produceThe same is also resulting into increase of cost of crop production and loss of economy Therefore the Government of Haryana considers it expedient to prevent sale of substandard seeds and for that purpose inserted section 19A after Section 19 for the contravention of Section 7 of the Seeds Act 1966 says the statementThe amended provisions have significantly strengthened the penalties for those involved in the production sale and distribution of fake adulterated and substandard seedsUnder the new provisions any company or producer found guilty of producing or manufacturing such seeds will face a minimum imprisonment of one to two years along with a fine ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh for the first offenceIn the case of a second or subsequent offence the punishment increases to a minimum of two to three years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakhSimilarly for persons or seed sellers found guilty of selling and distributing fake adulterated or substandard seeds the new provisions impose a minimum imprisonment of six months to one year along with a fine of Rs 50000 to Rs 1 lakh for the first offenceFor a second or subsequent offense the punishment increases to a minimum of one to two years of imprisonment with a fine ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakhThe Haryana Assembly also passed a Bill amending the existing Insecticides Act increasing penalties and fines for offendersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever