The draft Bill proposes to decriminalise minor offences, thereby promoting ease of doing business and reducing compliance burden. | Photo Credit: MOHD ARIF
Asking stakeholders to submit suggestions by December 11, the Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said that the proposed legislation is intended to replace the existing Seeds Act, 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983.
“The draft Seeds Bill, 2025, seeks to regulate the quality of seeds and planting materials available in the market; ensure farmers’ access to high-quality seeds at affordable rates; curb the sale of spurious and poor-quality seeds; protect farmers from losses; liberalise seed imports to promote innovation and access to global varieties, and safeguard the rights of farmers, ensuring transparency and accountability in seed supply chains,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The draft Bill proposes to decriminalise minor offences, thereby promoting ease of doing business and reducing compliance burden, while maintaining strong provisions to penalise serious violations effectively, it said.
An industry expert termed the Bill as “friendly” and growth oriented, since seed companies will not be unnecessarily dragged into court cases by farmers with vested interests. “No court shall take cognisance of any offence punishable under this Act, except upon a complaint filed by Seed Inspector appointed under Section 31,” the Bill stated.
“The Central government, State government or the Union Territory administration, as the case may be, for the purposes of determining the penalties under section 34, may by notification, authorise any officer, having jurisdiction, to be the adjudicating officer to hold an inquiry and impose penalty, in the manner as may be prescribed, after giving any person concerned a reasonable opportunity of being heard,” it proposed.
Penalty explained
Section 34 (1) of the Bill provides for serving “a written notice for rectification or improvement” for the first offence in “trivial” matters, and for every subsequent offence within three years, a penalty of ₹50,000. For “minor” offences, the Bill proposes ₹1 lakh penalty, and ₹2 lakh penalty penalty for subsequent offences within 3 years.
For a major offence, the Bill proposes ₹10 lakh penalty and a fine of ₹20 lakh for subsequent offences if committed within 5 years. Any subsequent major offence after being fined ₹20 lakh will attract a penalty of ₹30 lakh and cancellation of dealership licence or three years imprisonment.
The Bill has defined trivial offences as failing to maintain business records, non-display of registration certificate, non-affixing label on the seed packet, failure in fixing QR code-related issues, continuing seed business one year or more after expiry of registration, and selling seeds in non-recommended area. “Minor” offences are misbranding, sale of sub-standard seeds, selling at rates higher than what is set by the government and failure to upload details on SATHI portal.
Spurious seeds
Companies/firms that “supply” any spurious seeds may be tried under major offence category, which leave out onus of retailers who sell those seeds, an expert said. Suppliers of non-registered seed varieties and those in the business without dealer or distributor or producer registration are also to be considered as major offences.
‘Spurious seed’ has been defined as “any seed which is not true to type or traits or does not meet minimum limit of genetic purity.”
As the Agriculture Ministry has been speaking about fake and spurious seeds for quite sometime, there was apprehension about some stringent penalty. However, the current Bill has not proposed any draconian provision. “There is no word called fake seed in the draft and any synthetic material if passed on as seeds to cheat farmers may escape the ambit of the proposed law,” said the expert.
On the registration process, which is currently dominated by ICAR, it is to be seen how the government makes changes, if any. The formation of the Central Seed Committee, currently headed by the union agriculture secretary, has been retained in the Bill, it has only been mentioned that a sub-committee (to be called the Registration Sub-Committee) will recommend varieties of seeds for registration after scrutinising their claims as made in the application.
Further, the Registration Sub-Committee may appoint another sub-committee on Seed Certification or more such sub-committees.
Currently, in the three-tire structure, the applications are first screened by the Variety Identification Committee (VIC), which sends them to the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification & Release of Varieties (CSN&RV). Currently, the CSN&RV is chaired by the deputy director general concerned of ICAR depending on whether an application is for field crop or any horticulture seed.
“While ICAR may be asked for technical advice at the bottom of the pyramid, the proposed Registration Sub-Committee should be headed by the concerned joint or additional secretary in the ministry since private companies are also applicants and their varieties clash with those developed by ICAR institutes,” suggested a private seed company official requesting anonymity.
Published on November 13, 2025
