Quick Summary: A court decision has found the Ramanathapuram District Central Co-operative Bank guilty of not giving out a crop insurance payment on time. The bank's delay left many farmers without money for their crop losses.
The case started when 33 farmers asked the court in 2010 to make the authorities pay their crop insurance claims. The farmers had lost their crops and wanted the insurance money quickly.
On January 4, 2023, the court told the District Collector of Ramanathapuram to look into the crop losses and figure out the compensation within three months. The court ordered the Central Co-operative Bank and the Aanaiyur Primary Agricultural Co-operative Society to pay the farmers.
"The court also instructed the Ramanathapuram District Central Co-operative Bank and Uthayanan of Aanaiyur Primary Agricultural Co-operative Society to jointly and separately give the money to each of the farmers who filed the petition."
The bank disagreed with this decision, saying they were just a go-between and not responsible for the delay. They claimed that the Aanaiyur Society didn't send the paperwork on time, which caused the delay.
"The bank argued that they were only a middleman and therefore, they couldn't be blamed for not paying the Crop Insurance Policy amount."
The farmers argued that the bank was at fault for not sending the payment to the insurance company on time. This delay meant the insurance company sent the money back, leaving farmers without their compensation.
"Because of the delay by the Central Co-operative Bank, the Insurance Company had sent the money back."
The court, led by Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Vijayakumar, rejected the bank's appeal. They found that the bank didn't do its job properly and couldn't blame the government or the insurance company.
"The judges also noted that the Bank failed to do their job and they cannot ask the Government to pay the farmers."
The court decided that the Ramanathapuram District Central Co-operative Bank was responsible for the delay in paying the crop insurance and must pay the farmers their compensation.
