Govt decision to suspend mandatory permission for tea cultivation unlikely to impact industry: Tea Board chief

Guwahati: The Central government's decision to do away with the need for permission to undertake tea plantation in the country is unlikely to have any major impact on the Tea industry, a top official of the Tea Board India said.

The order could, however, be aimed at encouraging tea plantation in states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand which the government might be targeting to develop as speciality tea hubs, he added.

Chairman of Tea Board India PK Bezboruah said, "It was a redundant law. People were anyway hardly following, so it is not likely that suspension of the law will have much bearing."

The Central government has suspended the operation of section 12 to 16, section 39 and section 40 of the Tea Act, 1953 (29 of 1953) until further order with effect from August 23, a Tea Board circular of September 8 had said.

Besides doing away with the mandatory permission, corresponding penal provisions for failing to acquire the permission have also been suspended.

"Henceforth, no permission from Tea Board is required to plant tea anywhere in India until further notice," the circular had added.

Bezboruah said though apprehensions have been raised by some quarters that green tea leave production could increase exponentially with the suspension of the provision for permission, it is unlikely to happen so.

He said tea plantation, especially by the small tea growers, was happening without taking the requisite permission from the Tea Board for several decades.

"The law was there but it was not enforced. So, we don't think it will have much of an impact overall," he added.

The Tea Board chairman further said the decision to suspend mandatory permission could be aimed at encouraging more tea plantation in places like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.