KOCHI: The state agriculture department has suspended the license of Idukki-based Spices producer company (SPC) on charges of sale of products under FCO 1985 without licence and sale of products as fertilizer which do not come under FCO.
This follows an inspection by agriculture department officials who found that the sale of organic manure was of poor quality. Samples of the products were sent for quality analysis to the Pattambi-based Biofertilizer and organic manure quality control lab. In a notice issued to the company, the letter said that four samples were taken and all failed.
The company has been charged with repacking products of other firms and selling in their own name, manufacturing micronutrient mixtures without licence and manufacturing of micronutrient fertilizer grades not notified by the state.
According to complaints filed by franchisees, Rs 5 lakh was taken as a deposit from them. Many of the people who had invested in the company are said to be NRIs or people who had lost their jobs during the Covid pandemic.
While the department had issued a warning to the company and suspended the licence earlier in March, the company filed a petition in the Kerala high court seeking revocation of the suspension. The court asked officials to respond and report by October 11. Following this, the additional director of agriculture informed the company that the letter of authorisation to conduct business has been cancelled.
“An opportunity of hearing was afforded to you on March 16, 2021, and sufficient awareness regarding your violations of FCO 1985 was explained for taking steps for rectification. However, in the hearing conducted on September 28, you were still falsely claiming about lack of awareness of these rules. No efforts to rectify the violations have been made,” the letter said.
