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THE UTTARAKHAND FRUIT NURSERIES (REGULATION) ACT, 2019
(UTTARAKHAND ACT NO: 11 OF 2020)
AN
ACT
to make provision for the licenses and regulation of fruit nurseries in the State of
Uttarakhand
Be it enacted by the Uttarakhand State Legislative Assembly in the seventieth
year of Republic of India as follows:-
Short title,
extent &
Commencement
1. (1) This Act may be called the Uttarakhand Fruit Nurseries
(Regulation) Act, 2019.
(2) It extends to the whole State of Uttarakhand.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State
Government may , by notification in the Official Gazette,
appoint
Definitions 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires: -
(a) “Appellate Authority” means Secretary, Horticulture
Uttarakhand authorized by the State Government or any
officer nominated by him, who is not below the rank of
additional secretary to hear Appeals under this Act;
(b) “Competent Authority” means an officer appointed/
nominated by the State Government under this Act to perform
the desired works, by notification in the Official Gazette;
(c) “Director” means the Director, Horticulture & Food
Processing, Uttarakhand;
(d) “Fruit Nursery” means a place where propagation,
management and sale of fruit plant are done in the regular
course of business and It also includes Commercial Tissue
Culture unit/lab. and nurseries managed by the Government;
(e) “Fruit plant” means any plant, which can produce edible fruits
or nuts and includes gootee, seedlings, grafts, suckers, layers,
bulbs, rhizomes and scion of any such plant;
(f) “Inspection Officer” means Technical officer of the
department, who is not below the rank of Group-I officer;
(g) “Licence” means licence granted by licensing authority under
this Act;
(h) “Licence holder” means any person holding a licence for the
time being;
(i) “Licensing Authority” means the Director of horticulture and
food processing, Chaubattia, Ranikhet;
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(j) “Nursery Owner” in relation to a fruit nursery, means the
person who, or the authority which has the ultimate control
over the affairs of such fruit nu rsery and it also includes a
manager, managing director, managing agent, any other
person incharge of such fruit nursery or the controlling
authority( A.D.O./ Superintendent/Nursery Development
Officer/ District/ Chief Horticulture Officer/ or Nursery
incharge) of a Government nursery;
(k) “Prescribed” means prescribed by the rules framed under this
Act;
(l) “Root stock” means a fruit plants or part thereof on which any
portion of a high quality fruit p lant has been grafted or
budded;
(m
)
“Scion”/“bud wood” means a portion of a fruit plant which is
grafted or budded on to a rootstock;
(n) “State Government” means the Government of the State of
Uttarakhand;
Licence of Fruit
Nursery
3. (1) No person/Authority shall, after the expiry of three months
from the date of commencement of this Act or from the
date on which he becomes first time owner of a fruit
nursery, whichever is later, conduct or carry o n the
business of fruit nursery without licence. It is necessary for
all existing fruit nurseries to obtain licence within three
months from the commencement of the Act.
(2) Where more than one fruit nursery is owned by one
person/organisation whether in the same town or village
or in different towns or villages, separate licence shall have
to obtained in respect of each such fruit nursery.
Application for
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4. (1) Every application for the licence under Section 3 of this
Act, shall be made in the prescribed form to the Licensing
Authority and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(2) The inspection of the fruit nursery shall be done by the
departmental committee constituted for the verification
of testimonials submitted with the application for licence.
(3) No licence, shall be granted under this Act, if it appears to
the Licensing Authority that-
(a) the fruit nursery is not suitable for the improved
propagation of the fruit plants, in respect of which licence
has been applied for; or
(b) the applicant is not competent to operate such fruit
nursery; or
(c) the prescribed fee is not submitted with the application;
or
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(d) the applicant has been convicted of any offence under
this Act, or the rules made there under.
(4) The applicant must be Udhyan Card and Aadhar Card
holder.
(5) The licence holder shall maintain various records of
prescribed forms under the provision of this Act or the
rules made there under or any of ter m and conditions of
the licence, in the fruit nursery.
(6) The licence holder, shall have to get Accreditation
Certificate from the National Horticulture Board,
Government of India, after obtaining licence.
Essential
conditions of
Licence
5. (1) The nursery owner must have general educational
knowledge regarding nurseries.
(2) Nursery owner/ licence holder of 1.0 hectare or more
than 1.0 hectare shall be required to submit a certificate
of training received from the Department of horticulture,
any institute of Indian Council of Agricultural Research or
State Agriculture/Horticulture Universities and it shall be
recommended by the Department in re spect of nursery
management.
(3) The nursery owner must have minimum 0.20 hectare land
or registered leased land for 30 years and licence shall not
be granted for more than one crop for the fruit nursery of
land of 0.20 hectare:
Provided that in hilly area the nursery owner must
have minimum 0.10 hectare land.
(4) A mother block is must for establishment of fruit nursery.
(5) The licence shall be granted for the establishment of fruit
nursery by keeping in the view the conditions for the soil,
climate and fruit plant propogation.
Duration of
Licence & its
Renewal
6. (1) A licence under Section 4 shall be valid for three calendar
years. On application made in this behalf on prescribed
form and upon payment of the prescribed fee , licence
may be renewed, by the Licensing Authority for next two
years.
(2) Renewal of the licence may be done by the Licensing
Authority for two years after submission of application
and prescribed fees in prescrib ed form and providing the
certificate of the fifteen days training regarding the fruit
nursery before the period of cessation of licence.
(3) No licence shall be renewed under this Act if the Licensing
Authority is satisfied that:-
(a) The licence holder has wilfully committed a
breach of the provision of subsection (1) of
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Section 4 of this Act or the rules made under this
Act or any provision of the terms and condition s
of the licence; or
(b) any of the grounds mentioned in the sub section
(3) of Section 4 exists.
Suspension or
Cancellation of
Licence
7. (1) A licence made under this Act may be suspended or
cancelled by the Licensing Authority if he is satisfied
that –
(a) any of the ground mentioned in the sub section (3) of
Section 4 exists; or
(b) the license holder has wholly or partly left the possession
or control of the fruit nursery or that he has ceased to run
it; or
(c) the licence holder/ the nursery owner has not compliance
with the conditions of licence or the provisions of the Act ;
or
(d) if the licence holder did not provid e or express his
incapability to provide the necessary records and registers
required by the Licensing Authority under the Act ; or
(e) the licence is not being renewed within the prescribed
period; or
(f) any other relevant legal reasons exists; or
(2) The licence holder shall surrender the licence certificate
to the concerned authority after the order of cancellation
or suspension of licence is issued.
(3) Where any licence is suspended or cancelled, the licence
holder shall not be entitled to any compensation nor he
shall be entitled to any refund of any fee paid by him for
the licence.
(4) No action under subsection (1) shall be taken by Licensing
Authority until the reasonable opportunity of being heard
is given to the license holder.
((5) A copy of every order issued under subsection(1) shall be
forwarded to the licence holder.
Issuing the order
8. (1) Every order for refusal of licence under subsection (3) of
Section 4 or refusal of renewal of licence under subsection
(3) of Section 6, or suspension or cancellation of licence
under Section 7 of the Act shall be in writing and reasons
in support of it shall be given . Before issuing every such
order the Licensing Authority shall give a opportunity of
being heard to the applicant or license holder as the case
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may be, within 30 working days.
(2) Before issuing any order under subsection (1) the Licensing
Authority shall give a reasonable opportunity of being
heard the applicant or the nursery owner, as the case may
be.
Duplicate Copy of
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9. if a licence issued under Section 4 has lost, destroyed, torn or
deformed or gets unreadable by other means, the Licensing
Authority shall issue a duplicate copy of the licence on
submission of the application and prescribed fees by the
nursery owner.
Appeal 10. (1) Any person aggrieved by any order of the Licensing
Authority for refusal of licence under subsection (3) of
Section 4 or refusal for renewal of licence under
subsection (3) of Section 6, suspension or cancellation of
licence under sub-section (1) of Section 7 of the Act, may
file an appeal before the Appellate Authority within 30
days from the date of communication of such order;
Provided that the Appellate Authority, if satisfied that
the appellant could not file the appeal in specified period
due to some reasonable cause , may accept the appeal
even after the expiry of period specified in this subsection.
(2) The Appellate Authority, may after giving an opportunity
of being heard to the appellant, pass an order as he may
deem fit.
(3) Subject to the provisions of Section 11 , an order passed
under this section shall be final.
Power of state
Government to
call the records
11. The State Government, for the purpose of satisfying itself
regarding the justification and validity of any order given
under this Act, may suomoto or on application by any
aggrieved person may call records of any matter, and examine
them and pass such order as he may deem fit:
Provided that the State Government shall not exercise its
power during the pendency of appeal under Section 10 of the
Act or before the expiry of time prescribed for such appeal:
Provided further that if the State Government suomoto
call the records of any matter , shall not give any order under
this section that may adversely affect any person, until a
reasonable opportunity of being heard is given to him.
Duties of the
license holder
12. Every licence holder/ nursery owner have duty to:-
(i) propagate only such vari eties of fruit plants, specified in
the licence in respect of scion or root stocks, for
production and sale, as may be directed by the Licensing
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Authority.
(ii) keep complete records of origin or source of every root
stock and scions showing, the botanical name together
with local name, of the root stock, if any.
(iii) keep mother block of the fruit plant and other plants,
whose propagation is to be done through vegetative
propagation, wherein same kind of varieties of plants
shall be maintained under advanced management.
(iv) vegetatively propagate only those plants and varieties for
which he is having a mother tree and the maximum
number of propagated plants in the nursery shall depend
on the such variety / plant number in the mother block.
(v) use latest approved techniques for plant propagation and
follow the direction issued by the competent authority for
this purpose.
(vi) shall not mix the varieties/plants of propagated fruit
plants. Therefore, the techniques are to be carefully
followed during the propagation.
(vii) keep the nursery site used for production of fruit plants
and the mother trees free from insects and diseases.
(viii) sale or distribute only those fruit plants which are free
from any kind of insects and diseases.
(ix) sale their planting materials subject to the contracts
mentioned in the Act and prescribed provisions or by
self declaration only.
Patent of new
discoveries
13. Necessary procedure shall be followed by the nursery owner
for the provision of its patent on discovery of new varieties.
To Maintain
account
Books & registers
14. (1) Every license holder/ nursery owner shall maintain related
Account Books, Registers and Records in such forms and
in such a manner as may be prescribed. These records
shall be safely retained for a period of 10 years.
Inspection & heck
of the Nursery
15. (1) The Inspecti on officer may inspect the nursery to ensure
healthy and high quality plant production and may issue
written recommendations/directions in this regard.
(2) The Inspection officer may during inspection of nursery
issue directions to destroy the infested/infe cted plants
and trees by observing the situation of insects and pests
within a prescribed time limit.
(3) If the procedure given in subsection (2) is not followed by
the Inspection officer within the prescribed period , then
Department may itself take action to destroy the plants
and trees and all the expenses incurred so shall be borne
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by the nursery owner which may be recovered as recovery
of the arrear of land revenue through the Revenue
Department.
(4) The proceeding under subsection (2) & (3) shall be done
by a Gazetted Officer.
(5) The licence holder / nursery owner shall in writing ,
provide the information regarding the availability of rainy
season planting material for sale by the month of May and
the information regarding the availability of winter season
planting material for sale by the month of October to the
Chief /District Horticulture Officer of their district.
(6) The information as age of plants, number of plants,
number of mother plants and genetic details, root stock
and scion o f saleable fruit plants provided by the license
holder / nursery owner (if received by other fruit nursery
/instructions) shall be verified at nursery level by a
committee constituted by department report of which
shall be provided by the Committee to the Director,
Horticulture.
(7) The digging out of plants from the nursery shall be done
only after the verification of the committee, otherwise the
procurement of plants shall not be considered.
Sale, Packing &
Labelling of
plants
16. (1) Each bundle of fruit plants meant for sale of fruits shall be
properly packed, labelled with the name of fruit plant and
varieties.
(2) If the bundle contains more than one type of plants and
varieties, each plant shall be labelled.
(3) proper label/board shall also be affixed on Mother block.
(4) Only one variety of plant shall be planted/propagated in
one seed plot and in a small board shall be affixed in this
seed plot with the name of that variety.
(5) If the nursery owner receives any fruit plants from any
other nursery of the State other than his fruit nursery for
the purpose of sale, he shall be required to obtain a self -
declaration from that nursery owner on a Rs. 100/ - (One
hundred) stamp paper stat ing the genetic characteristics,
techniques followed, and the plants being insect and
disease free.
(6) In respect of plant material, it is mandatory for all the
government and non-government nurseries established in
the State to see that from whatever s ource they purchase
plant material it should be beneficial, in case it is not
beneficial, action shall be taken against them under
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section18 of the Act.
st Power of State
Government to
Regulate or
Prohibit, Import,
Export or
Transport of
certain fruit
plants
17. The State Government may, for the purpose of
maintaining the quality of any fruit plants grown in any
part of the State or to protect them from harmful insects,
pests and plant disease s, by notification, regulate or
prohibit, subject to such restriction an d conditions as it
may specify, the bringing in to and taking out of the State
and any part thereof, or the transport within the State, or
any fruit plants of unknown pedigree of affected by any
infectious or contagious pest and disease.
Offence & Penalty 18. (1) The Nursery owner on contravention of any provision of
the Act or rules made thereunder, on first conviction shall
be punished with the fine which may extend to
Rs.50,000/- (Fifty thousand) and in default of payment of
fine with imprisonment which may extend to Six months,
and be punished on second or subsequent conviction with
imprisonment which may extend to six months and fine
which may extend to Rs.50,000/ - (Fifty th ousand). In
addition to this, the nursery owner shall be liable to pay
all the compensation under para 6 of Append ix-1 to the
farmer. The amount of compensation shall be determined
by a committee constituted under the chairmanship of
Chief/District Horticulture Officer.
(2) If an offence is made by the company under this Act, the
person in -charge of the operations of the company , for
the time being , shall be deemed to be guilty of that
offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and
punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained this sub-section
shall render any person liable to any punishment if he
proves that the offence was committed without his
knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to
prevent the commission of such offence.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), if
any offence punishable under this Act has being
committed by a company and it is proved that the offence
has been committed with the consent or connivance or
negligence of any Secretary, treasurer, Director, Manager
or other officer of the company, such Secretary,
Treasurer, Director, Manager or other officer of the
company shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence
and shall be liable to be proceeded a gainst and punished
accordingly.
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Explanation:- For the purpose of this section-
(a) Company means a corporate body and includes a firm or
other association of individuals; and
(b) "Director" in relation to a firm, means the partner of that
firm.
Cognizance of
Offence
19. No prosecution shall be initiated except for any complaint
authorized by the Licensing Authority for any of fence
punishable under this Act.
1[Explanation: Any complaint arising under this Act, shall
lies to the Jurisdiction of first class judicial Magistrate of
concerned district. ]
Powers of
Licensing
Authority
20. The Licensing Authority may:-
(1) require the nursery owner to submit such information
regarding the nursery in his ownership or run by him as
may be specified.
(2) enter in any nursery and inspect or make inspection of it
and get inspected the plants in the nursery as also the
account books and records related to the plants to ensure
that the requirement of the Act and Rules made the re
under are being complied.
(3) take samples of fruit plants and get make its analysis,
inspection or testing in a lab assigned for this purpose.
Protection of
action taken
in good faith
21. (1) No suit prosecution, or any other legal proceeding shall lie
against any person for anything done or intende d to be
done in good faith unde this Act or the rules made
thereunder.
(2) No suit or legal processing shall lie against the State
Government for a injury or possible injury incurred by
anything done or intended to be done in good faith under
this Act or the rules made thereunder.
Training of
Farmers
22. Farmers of the State shall be taken to an exposure visit to the
nearby government nurseries and given training by the
Department to make them aware of the horticultural activities
according to the climate of a particular region, specially about
the advanc ed techniques, fineness and characteristics to be
followed during the preparation of nurseries so that if the
farmers themselves wish to purchase any plants from a
nursery, they may be able to buy specific and quality planting
material along with a bill from the seller.
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1- Inserted by section 2 of UK Act no 23 of 2021.
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Power to make
Rules
23. (1) The State government may, by notification, in the Official
Gazette make rules to carry out the provision s of this Act
and ma y amend rules from time to time which also
includes a rule to prescribe fees for any proceeding under
the Act.
(2) Every rule made by a State Government under this Act shall
be laid, as soon as may be after it is made before the State
Legislative Assembly.
Bar on suit in the
civil court
24. No any objection shall be entertained in any civil court on any
order given in exercise of any power by or under this Act.
Direction by the
State
Government
25. The Licensing Authority shall comply with the instructions of
the State Government on the subject of policy related matters
in respect of its duties under this Act, which the State
Government may issue from time to time.
Power to remove
difficulties
26. (1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of
this Act, the State Government may by order, published in
the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act, as appear to it to be
necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:
Provided that no such order shall be made after the
expiry of a period of two years from the commencement of
this Act.
(2) Every order made under this Section shall, as soon as may
be, after it is made, be laid before the State Legislative
Assembly.
Repeal and
Savings
27. (1) The Uttar Pradesh Fruit Nurseries (Registration) Act, 1976 is
hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action
taken under the said Act shall be deemed to have been
done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this
Act.
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Appendix-1
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SELF-DECLARATION BY NURSERY OWNER
I, Shri/Sushri/Shrimati ---------------------------- Son/daughter/wife of -----------------------------
resident of ------------------------------------------------------------------- declare that I will propagate and
sell the fruit plants grown in my nursery under the following declarations:
1. For propagation and sale of plants, scion and root stocks of fruit plants of only those
varieties shall be used by me for which the nursery has been registered and for which
instructions shall be given by the Registration Authority.
2. All the records shall be maintained in the proforma provided by the Registration
Authority.
3. A lay -out of root stocks and mother plants to be grown in the nursery shall be
prepared by me.
4. The nursery pre mises along with mother plants to be used in the plants propagation
shall be kept free from insects and diseases by me.
5. The varieties/plants from packed at the time of sale shall be tagged by me, wherein
the root stock and scion used in the propagation of these varieties shall be clearly
mentioned.
6. I also declare that the plant sold or distributed by me shall be of the same varieties for
which I have made recommendations and the same shall be completely free from any
insects or diseases otherwise all the co mpensations towards the farmer shall be borne
by me. The compensation shall be determined by the committee constituted under
the chairmanship of Chief/District Horticulture Officer.
7. In the nursery , a register shall be maintained by me and the names of al l root stocks
and scions used in propagation of fruit plants sold/distributed to any person or
institution shall be mentioned in this register. The name and address of the
person/institution to which the fruit plant is sold shall also be mentioned. These
registers shall be retained by me for minimum 10 years.
8. After inspection by the Registration Officer or his representative, I shall comply with
the instructions given to me by him in respect of production and characteristics of
healthy and disease insect's free plants.
9. I shall comply with the conditions set by the Government of Uttarakhand in respect of
the recommendations for quality propagation of the plants and their sales rates.
10. I shall have no objection to any inspection by the authorities in respect o f tasks being
performed in my nursery such as development of mother plants, root stocks used in
the propagation of plants, incidence of insects and pests, quality and genetic
characteristics, growth and development of plants. I shall be ready to remove or
destroy any plants affected by insects or disease if so suggested during the inspection
and for this no compensation shall be claimed by me.
11. Except for the crop included in the registration of my nursery, no other crop shall be
grown by me.
12. I shall comply with all the conditions and provisions given in the Uttarakhand Fruit
Nurseries (Regulation) Act, 2019.
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13. In case of any violation of the above declaration or of the provisions of the
Uttarakhand Fruit Nursery (Regulation) Act, 201 9, by me, I shall be liabl e for
punishment as provided in the Act.
Signature of nursery owner……………………………
Name of nursery owner……………………………
Father's/husband's name of the nursery owner…
Name & address of the Nursery………………………
Dated:……………..
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