The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Madras High Court order directing the Tamil Nadu government to extend its crop loan waiver scheme to all farmers, including those having land holdings of more than five acres.
A bench headed by Justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued a notice to the Association of Agriculturists and stayed the April 4 order of the Madurai bench of the high court.
The crop loan waiver scheme for farmers was notified by the Food and Consumer Protection Department in May 2016.
The counsel for the state government said the scheme was only meant for small and marginal farmers with land below five acres and said the policy decision of the government cannot be interfered with. These farmers had taken crop loans from co-operative banks and societies.
The state government which has challenged the high court order said it would suffer irreparable loss if the verdict was stayed. It said the list of beneficiaries was prepared in 2016 as the government intended to give relief only to small farmers after taking into account the budgetary allocation and revenue collection.
The high court had passed the order on writ petitions seeking to extend the scheme to all farmers of the state, irrespective of the size of land holdings.
It had said that the central government cannot be a mute spectator when the state government was facing difficult financial situation and should extend a helping hand.
The high court had also restrained the authorities from initiating any action against the farmers for recovery of crop loan as on March 31, 2016.
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