JUDGMENT :

Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J.

1. A Division Bench of the Madras High Court at the Madurai Bench allowed the writ petition filed by the Respondent under Article 226 of the Constitution for quashing G.O Ms. No. 50 which granted loan waiver to small and marginal farmers. The High Court held the grant of loan waivers only to small and marginal farmers to be arbitrary and directed the appellant to grant the same benefit to all farmers irrespective of the extent of landholding.

2. The Government of Tamil Nadu issued G.O Ms. No. 50 dated 13 May 2016 (“Scheme”) granting a waiver of outstanding crop loans, medium term (agriculture) loans and long term (farm sector) loans issued to small and marginal farmers. G.O Ms. No. 59 dated 28 June 2016 was issued providing guidelines for the implementation of G.O Ms. No. 50. The guidelines provide that for the classification of farmers as small and marginal, the extent of landholding as mentioned in the landholding register and loan register at the time of sanction of the agricultural loan shall be taken into consideration. As for the definition of ‘small farmer’ and ‘marginal farmer’, it provides that ‘small farmer’ means a farmer who hol