SEEDS RULES, 1968
These rules may be called the Seeds Rules, 1968.
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1. Vide G.S.R. 1632, dated 29th August, 1968, published in the Gazette of India, Extra., p. 517, dated 2nd September, 1968.
In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Act” means the Seeds Act, 1966 (54 of 1966);
(b) “advertisement’ means all representations other than those on the label, disseminated in any manner or by any means relating to seed for the purposes of the Act;
(c) “certification sample” means a sample of seed drawn by a certification agency or by a duly authorised representative of a certification agency established under section 8 or recognized under section 18 of the Act;
(d) “certification tag” means a tag or label of certain design to be specified by the certification agency and shall constitute the certificate granted by the certification agency;
(e) “certified seed” means s
In addition to the functions entrusted to the Committee by the Act, the Committee shall,—
(a) recommend the rate of fees to be levied for analysis of samples by the Central and State Seed Testing Laboratories and for certification by the certification agencies;
(b) advise the Central or State Governments on the suitability of Seed Testing Laboratories;
(c) send its recommendations and other concerning records to the Central Government;
(d) recommend the procedure and standards for certification, tests and analysis of seeds; and
(e) carry out such other functions as are supplemental, incidental or consequential to any of the functions conferred by the Act or these rules.
The members of the committee and its sub-committees shall be entitled to draw travelling and daily allowances as specified below when they are called upon to attend a meeting of the committee or a sub-committee thereof:
(a) An official member of the committee or its sub-committee shall be entitled to draw travelling and daily allowances in accordance with the rules of the Government under which he is for the time being employed and from the same source from which his pay and allowances are drawn:
(b) A non-official member shall be allowed travelling and daily allowances in accordance with the general orders issued in this behalf by the Central government from time to time.
In addition to the functions entrusted to the Central Seed laboratory by the Act, the Laboratory shall carry out the following functions, namely:—
(a) initiate testing programmes in collaboration with the State Seed Laboratories designed to promote uniformity in test results between all seed laboratories in India;
(b) collect data continually on the quality of seeds found in the market and make this data available to the Committee; and
(c) carry out such other functions as may be assigned to it by the Central Government from time to time.
In addition to the functions entrusted to the certification agency by the Act, the Agency shall,—
(a) certify seeds of any notified kinds or varieties;
(b) outline the procedure for submission of applications and for growing, harvesting, processing, storage and labelling of seeds intended for certification till the end to ensure that seed lots finally approved for certification are true to variety and meet prescribed standards for certification under the Act or these rules;
(c) maintain a list of recognised breeders of seeds;
(d) verify, upon receipt of an application for certification that the variety is eligible for certification, that the seed source used for planting was authenticated and the record of purchase is in accordance with
When seed of a notified kind or variety is offered for sale under section 7, each container shall be marked or labelled in the manner hereinafter specified. The person whose name appears on the mark or label shall be responsible for the accuracy of the information required to appear on the mark or label so long as seed is contained in the unopened original container:
Provided, however, that such person shall not be responsible for the accuracy of the statement appearing on the mark or label if the seed is removed from the original unopened container, or he shall not be responsible for the accuracy of the germination statement beyond the date of validity indicated on the mark or label.
There shall be specified on every mark or label,—
(i) particulars, as specified by the Central Government under clause (b) of section 6 of the Act;
(ii) a correct statement of the net content in terms of weight and expressed in metric system;
(iii) date of testing;
(iv) if the seed in container has been treated,—
(a) a statement indicating that the seed has been treated;
(b) the commonly accepted chemical or abbreviated chemical (generic) name of the applied substance; and
(c) if the substance of the chemical used for treatment, and present with the seed is harmful to human beings or other verte
.—(1) The mark or label containing the particulars of the seed as specified under clause (b) of section 6 shall appear on each container of seed or on a tag or mark or label attached to the container in a conspicuous place on the innermost container in which the seed is packed and on every other covering in which that container is packed and shall be legible.
(2) Any transparent cover or any wrapper, case or other covering used solely for the purpose of packing of transport or delivery need not be marked or labelled.
(3) Where by a provision of these rules, any particulars are required to be displayed on a label on the container, such particulars may, instead of being displayed on a label be etched, painted or otherwise indelibly marked on the container.
The mark or label shall not contain any statement, claim, design, device, fancy name or abbreviation which is false or misleading in any particular concerning the seed contained in the container.
Nothing shall appear on the mark or label or in any advertisement pertaining to any seed of any notified kind or variety which shall deny responsibility for the statement required by or under the Act to appear on such mark, label or advertisement.
.—(1) No person shall sell, keep for sale, offer to sell, barter or otherwise supply any seed of any notified kind or variety, after the date recorded on the container, mark or label as the date upto which the seed may be expected to retain the germination not less than that prescribed under clause (a) of section 6 of the Act.
(2) No person shall alter, obliterate or deface any mark or label attached to the container of any seed.
(3) Every person selling, keeping for sale, offering to sell, bartering or otherwise supplying any seed of notified kind or variety under section 7, shall keep over a period of three years a complete record of each lot of seed sold except that any seed sample may be discarded one year after the entire lot represented by such sample has been disposed of. The sample of seed kept as part of the complete record sh
.—(1) There shall be three classes of certified seed, namely, foundation, registered and certified and each class shall meet the following standards for that class:—
(a) Foundation seed shall be the progeny of breeder’s seed, or be produced from foundation seed which can be clearly traced to breeder’s seed. Production shall be supervised and approved by a seed certification agency and be so handled as to maintain specific genetic purity and identity and shall be required to meet certification standards for the crop being certified;
(b) Registered seed shall be the progeny of foundation seed that is so handled as to maintain its genetic identity and purity according to standard specified for the particular crop being certified;
(c) Certified seed shall be the progeny of registered or f
Every application for the grant of a certificate under sub-section (1) of section 9 shall be made in Form I in accordance with the procedure outlined by the certification agency for submission of applications and contain the following particulars, namely:—
(a) the name, profession, and place of residence of the applicant;
(b) the name of the seed to be certified; its notified kind or variety;
(c) class of the seed;
(d) source of the seed;
(e) limits of germination and purity of the seed;
(f) mark or label of the seed.
Every application under sub-section (1) of section 9 shall be accompanied by a fee of Rs. 25 in cash.
The Certification agency shall, before granting the certificate, ensure that the seed conforms to the standards laid down in the Manual known as “Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards” published by the Central Seed Committee, as amended from time to time.]
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1. Ins. by G.S.R. 389(E), dated 10th June, 1981 (w.e.f. 10-6-1981).
Every certificate granted under sub-section (3) of section 9 shall be in Form II and shall be granted by the certification agency, after making enquiries and satisfying itself in accordance with the provisions of the said sub-section on the following conditions, for the period to be specified by the certification agency, namely:—
(i) The person to whom the certificate is granted under sub-section (3) of section 9 shall attach a certification tag to every container of the certified seed and shall follow the provisions in respect of marking or labelling provided by or under the Act.
(ii) The certification tag shall contain the following particulars, namely:—
(a) name and address of the certification agency;
(b) kind and variety of the se
.—(1) Every memorandum of appeal under sub-section (1) of section 11 shall be in writing and shall be accompanied by a copy of the decision of the certification agency against which it has been preferred and shall set forth concisely and under distinct heads the grounds of objection to such decision without any argument, or narrative.
(2) Every such memorandum of appeal shall be accompanied by a treasury receipt for a sum of Rs. 100.
(3) Every such memorandum of appeal may be presented either in person or through an agent duly authorised in writing in this behalf by the appellant or may be sent by the registered post.
In deciding appeals under the Act the appellate authority 1[***] shall follow the same procedure which a Court follows in deciding appeals from the decree or order of an original court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908).
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1. Omitted by G.S.R. 329(E), dated 30th June, 1973.
A person shall not be qualified for appointment as Seed Analyst unless he—
(i) possesses a Master’s or equivalent degree in Agriculture or Agronomy or Botany or Horticulture of a University recognised for this purpose by the Government and has had not less than one year’s experience in seed technology; or
(ii) possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Botany of a University recognised for this purpose by the Government and has had not less than three years’ experience in seed technology.
On receipt of a sample for analysis the Seed Analyst shall first ascertain that the mark and the seal or fastening as provided in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 15 are intact and shall note the condition of the seals thereon.
1[(2) The Seed Analyst shall analyse the samples in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Seed Testing Manual published by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as amended from time to time.
(3) The Seed Analyst shall deliver in From VII, a copy of the report of the result of analysis to the persons specified in sub-section (1) of section 16, as soon as may be but not later than 30 days from the date of receipt of samples sent by the Seed Inspector under sub-section (2) of the section 15.]
(4) The Seed Analyst shall from time to time forward to
A person shall not be qualified for appointment as Seed Inspector unless he is a graduate in Agriculture of a University recognised for the purpose by the Government and has had not less than one year’s experience in seed production, or seed development or seed analysis or testing in a seed testing laboratory.
In addition to the duties specified by the Act the Seed Inspector shall,—
(a) inspect as frequently as may be required by certification agency all places used for growing, storage or sale of any seed of any notified kind or variety;
(b) satisfy himself that the conditions of the certificates are being observed;
(c) procedure and send for analysis, if necessary, samples of any seeds, which he has reason to suspect are being produced, stocked or sold or exhibited for sale in contravention of the provisions of the Act or these rules;
(d) investigate any complaint, which may be made to him in writing in respect of any contravention of the provisions of the Act or these rules;
(e) maintain a
.—(1) If farmer has lodged a complaint in writing that the failure of the crop is due to the defective quality of seeds of any notified kind or variety supplied to him, the Seed Inspector shall take in his possession the marks or labels, the seed containers and a sample of unused seeds to the extent possible from the complaint for establishing the source of supply of seeds and shall investigate the causes of the failure of his crop by sending samples of the lot to the Seed Analyst for detailed analysis at the State Seed Testing Laboratory. He shall thereupon submit the report of his findings as soon as possible to the competent authority.
(2) In case, the Seed Inspector comes to the conclusion that the failure of the crop is due to the quality of seeds supplied to the farmer being less than the minimum standards notified by the Central Government, he shall launch proceedings agains
Samples of any seed of any notified kind or variety for the purpose of analysis shall be taken in a clean dry container which shall be closed sufficiently tight to prevent leakage and entrance of moisture and shall be carefully sealed.
All containers containing samples for analysis shall be properly labelled and the parcels shall be properly addressed. The label on any sample of seed sent for analysis shall bear,—
(a) serial number;
(b) name of the sender with official designation, if any;
(c) name of the person from whom the sample has been taken;
(d) date and place of taking the sample;
(e) kind or variety of the seed for analysis;
(f) nature and quantity of preservative, if any, added to the sample.
All samples of seeds sent for analysis shall be packed, fastened and sealed in the following manner:—
(a) The stopper shall first be securely fastened so as to prevent leakage of the containers in transit.
(b) The container shall then be completely wrapped in fairly strong thick paper. The ends of the paper shall be neatly folded in and affixed by means of gum or other adhesive.
(c) The paper cover shall be further secured by means of strong twine or thread both above and across the container, and the twine or thread shall then be fastened on the paper cover by means of sealing wax on which there shall be at least four distinct and clear impressions of the seal of the sender, of which one shall be at the top of the packet, one at the bottom and the other two on the body of the packet
The order to be given in writing by the Seed Inspector under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 14 shall be in Form III.
When a Seed Inspector seizes any record, register, document or any other material object under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 14, he shall issue a receipt in Form IV to the person concerned.
The container of sample for analysis shall be sent to the Seed Analyst by registered post or by hand in a sealed packet enclosed together with a memorandum in Form V in an outer cover addressed to the Seed Analyst.
Whenever any preservative is added to a sample, the nature and quantity of the preservative added shall be clearly noted on the label to be affixed to the container.
On receipt of the packet, it shall be opened either by the Seed Analyst or by an officer authorised in writing in that behalf by the Seed Analyst, who shall record the condition of the seal on the packet. Analysis of the sample shall be carried out at the State Seed Laboratory in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Government.
The notice to be given under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 15 to the person from whom the Seed Inspector intends to take sample shall be in Form VI.
The report of the result of the analysis under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 16 shall be delivered or sent in Form VII.
The fees payable in respect of the report from the Central Seed Laboratory under sub-section (2) of section 16 shall be Rs. 10/- per sample of the seed analysed.
The sample of any seed shall, under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15, be retained under a cool, dry environment to eliminate the loss of viability and insect proof or rat proof container. The containers shall be dusted with suitable insecticides and the storage room fumigated to avoid infestation of samples by insects. The sample shall be packed in good quality containers of uniform shape and size before storage.
A person carrying on the business referred to in section 7 shall maintain the following records, namely:—
(a) stock record of seed;
(b) record of the sale of seeds;
The memorandum to be prepared under sub-section (4) of section 14 shall be in Form VIII.
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