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Journalism of Courage
Days after the Punjab government gave its nod to introduce The Seeds Bill 2025 to make the sale of spurious seeds a non-bailable offence, seed dealers across the state have raised concerns about the move and submitted a memorandum to the Governor. The dealers have alleged that the Bill would unfairly target those who sell pre-sealed, certified seeds.
Here is a look at the concerns of the state’s seed dealers.
The Bill essentially makes amendments to The Seeds Act, 1966, which regulates the quality of certain seeds for sale and matters related to it across the country, including in Punjab.
The Bill seeks to amend Section 19 of the Act to increase the fine and penalty for selling spurious seeds.
In an official statement, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said, “There has been no amendment to Section 19 of the Seeds Act 1966 since its inception due to which the fines and penalties have no deterrence… So the Cabinet gave its nod to enact a Bill to amend the Seeds Act and insert Section 19A for contravention of Section 7 of the Seeds Act, enhancing the fine and penalty, and making it cognizable and non-bailable.”
According to the Bill, the first offence by a company will invite a punishment of one to two years and a fine of between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh, and a punishment of two to three years and a fine of between Rs 10 and Rs 50 lakh for a repeated offence.
“Similar misdeed by a dealer/person will invite a punishment of six months to one year and fine of Rs 1-5 lakh for the first offence and a term of 1 to 2 years and fine of Rs 5-10 lakh for repeated offence,” the statement said.
For an individual or dealer, the punishment for the first offence will be six months to one year of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, while the term will be one to two years with a fine between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for repeat offences.
Currently, the penalty stands at a mere Rs 500 for the first offence, and Rs 1,000 along with a prison term of up to six months for repeat offences.
There are around 25,000 licensed seed dealers in Punjab, apart from government and semi-government bodies such as universities, cooperative societies, IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited), and KRIBHCO (Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd), which also sell seeds.
Private dealers argue that they buy sealed, certified seeds from government-approved manufacturers or packagers, and sell these sealed packets directly to farmers without any tampering or repackaging.
Therefore, they are not responsible for manufacturing, breeding, or certification of the seeds, according to seed dealers. Quality assurance is the responsibility of the seed producers, who could be companies, universities, government departments, and farmers (as big companies also engage farmers in their seed growing process), not the retailers, dealers have said.
The outcome of the crop, they argue, also depends on weather, soil, human effort, and farming practices, not just the seed itself.
Mohinder Singh, President of the Seed, Pesticides and Fertilisers Association, Punjab, told The Indian Express, “When the seed is grown, its germination and DNA tests are conducted, after which the government’s certification authority issues a certificate at the time of packaging. Then, a principal certificate is issued to the dealers for its sale, which is added to the seed dealers’ license by officials of the Agriculture Department. This means that every seed that reaches a seed dealer is under the watch of the government.
He also said, “If there are any black sheep among us, they should be punished stringently, but the proposed amendment can be misused against honest dealers in general.”
Seed dealers have also said that treating the sale of spurious seeds as a non-bailable offence would lead to harassment and arrests of dealers without evidence or inquiry. They argue that the provision can also be misused by competitors.
