The judge pointed out that a public awareness campaign carried out by food safety officials to warn people against consuming adulterated watermelons had backfired, leading to monetary loss for the farmers who had not indulged in any such adulteration. (File photo)
| Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR
The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to consider representations made on behalf of Chengalpattu Farmers Welfare Association and other individual farmers seeking compensation for the loss suffered by them reportedly due to an alarm raised by food safety officials regarding alleged injection of chemicals to enhance the colour and sweetness of watermelons.
Disposing of a couple of writ petitions filed in April this year, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said, though determination of compensation could not be done under the writ jurisdiction, he did not want to drive the farmers to civil court since the State was duty bound to take care of their interests. He directed the government to consider their plea for compensation within eight weeks.
The judge pointed out that a public awareness campaign carried out by food safety officials to warn people against consuming adulterated watermelons had backfired, leading to monetary loss for the farmers who had not indulged in any such adulteration. He said the horticulture department had conceded that no adulterated watermelons were found in Chennai during inspections and no case was registered.
Leading the arguments for the writ petitioners, advocate R. Sankarasubbu, assisted by K. Kesavan, said, the prices of watermelons had fallen to rockbottom level during this summer season due to the scare created among the consumers by the food safety department and their consequent reluctance to purchase the fruit. He contended that the State government was bound to compensate the monetary loss suffered by the farmers.
Though the government officials claimed that the prices of watermelons had dropped this year due to excess production and not because of the public awareness campaign, the judge said, since the farmers had already given a representation seeking compensation, their plea could be considered and the decision taken by the government should be conveyed to them in eight weeks.
Published – July 24, 2025 12:14 am IST
