Farmer compensation: Supreme Court stays Bombay HC order on insurance payment

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) has stayed a Bombay High Court (HC) order which had asked Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company to compensate over 3.5 lakh farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for loss of soya bean crop due to heavy rainfall in 2020.

A SC vacation bench, comprising Justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli, however, asked the insurance company to deposit Rs 200 crore with its registry within a period of six weeks from June 16.

In a major relief to soya bean farmers of Osmanabad district of Maharashtra who had suffered crop loss due to heavy rainfall in the Kharif season of 2020, the HC circuit bench in Aurangabad recently directed the insurance company to compensate them.

The insurance firm was represented in the SC by senior advocate Vivek Tankha and other lawyers, including Tanvi Dubey.

While issuing notice on the appeal of the insurance firm, the SC bench, on June 16, said, “In the meantime, there will be a stay of operation of the impugned judgment subject to the petitioner depositing an amount of Rs 200 crore with the Registry of this Court within a period of six weeks from today, as requested. The amount deposited shall be invested in an interest bearing fixed deposit in a nationalised bank until further orders.”