ORDER

The petitioner has prayed for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the third respondent herein to consider the Appeal filed by him, dated 18.08.2022, as against the orders in Se.Mu.A.No.U4, dated 20.07.2022, on the file of the fourth respondent on merits and dispose of the same within a time frame.

2.Heard Mr.T.Lajapathi Roy, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr.D.Sadiq Raja, learned Additional Government Pleader, who takes notice for the respondents. By consent of the learned counsel appearing for the parties, the Writ Petition is taken up for final disposal at the admission stage itself.

3.According to the petitioner, he is working as the Deputy Registrar-

cum-Regional Manager of Tamil Nadu Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd. X-401 [TANFED], Trichy Region, in which, the Government of Tamil Nadu is a major share holder. The objective of the TANFED, which was registered in the year 1959, is to identify the agricultural input requirements of the farmers and arrange for storage and distribution of fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and agricultural implements through co-operative outlets and to provide market support to the affiliated Member Co-operative Marketing Societies in procuring, storing and marketing of agricultural commodities and further to undertake manufacture of agricultural inputs, such as, granulated fertilizers, manure, mixture and quality seeds.

4.According to the petitioner, the Manufacturing Unit, Trichy, manufactures and markets mixed fertilizers such as, Mixture No.2, wherein, the ratio of N.P.K. of 12:6:6 [Nitrogen – Phosphorus – Potassium] is mixed, which is a fertilizer for paddy, ragi, cotton, chilly and other vegetables. Likewise, Mixture No.10, wherein, the ratio of N.P.K. of 15:5:5 is mixed, which is a fertilizer for sugarcane. Mixture No.14, wherein, the ratio of N.P.K. of 12:4:12 is mixed, which is used as a fertilizer for banana and coconut. The aforesaid mixed fertilizers are manufactured and marketed only with the Members of the Primary Agricultural Co-operative Credit Societies of Trichy, Karur, Perambalur and Ariyalur Districts, which consists of 348 Primary Agricultural Co-operative Credit Societies. The petitioner's Regional Office do not have any prior blemish antecedents.

5.In the aforesaid circumstances, the Government of India, Department of Fertilizers, conducted an inspection in eight South Indian States, including Tamil Nadu for standards of the mixed fertilizers as per the Fertilizer Control Order 1985 in the month of April 2022 and several mixed fertilizer manufacturing units across the State of Tamil Nadu were subjected to inspection. In this regard, on 30.04.2022, the Assistant General Manager of the Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT), an Enterprise of Government of India along with the Assistant Director of Agriculture (Quality Control), Trichy and Agricultural Officer, Manachanallur, conducted a surprise inspection and collected samples of the mixed fertilizers of the petitioner's Unit. The sample was collected from a single bag of Mixture No.2 alone, wherein, the ratio of N.P.K. is 12:6:6 and in this regard, only 'J' Form was issued while collecting the sample.

6.According to the petitioner, Section 30 of the Fertilizer Control Order, 1985, was not complied with while collecting the samples and also the procedure was not followed in the subsequent analysis. Thereafter, the petitioner has not received any communication in this regard. While so, a recommendation of the first respondent was communicated by the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers Department, recommending action as per the inspection made on 30.04.2022. In the strength of the same, the second respondent had passed a blanket order and informed all the Joint Directors of Agriculture throughout the State of Tamil Nadu to initiate action as per Fertilizer Control Order, 1985 on the units involved in sub-standards in fertilizers. In this connection, on 29.06.2022,