Spices Board to cancel auction company’s licence if cardamom grower is not paid in 10 days

If the cardamom auction companies fail to provide the money for cardamom growers within 10 days of the auction, the Spices Board will cancel their licenses, Sangeetha Viswanathan, chairperson of the Spices Board, has said. Addressing the Nedumkandam regional meeting of the Cardamom Planters Federation (CPF), an association of cardamom farmers in the district, at Nedumkandam on Friday, Ms. Vishwanathan said that the board had already cancelled the licence of two auction companies that failed to distribute the money to farmers on time. “The board will seriously look into such matters,” she said.

According to Spices Board sources, recently, two auction companies failed to provide money for cardamom growers, and it resulted in the cancellation of the auctioneer’s licence. “The Board will take strict actions against the auction companies over the violations of cardamom auction rules,” said the source.

According to officials, presently 16 auction companies are participating in the cardamom e-auction under the Spices Board.

During the meeting, Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose said that steps will be taken to increase the import price of cardamom. The meeting also discussed the case involving the Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) before the Supreme Court. The cardamom growers raised concerns over the case. According to the organisers, the Spices Board chairperson also agreed to the intervention of the central and State governments regarding the CHR case. The chairperson also agreed to the intervention by providing the CHR case-related costs from the Spices Board.

Cardamom Planters Federation Chairperson Stany Pothen presided over the meeting. Udumbanchola MLA M.M. Mani and Cardamom Planters Federation secretary P.R. Santhosh, among others, attended the meeting.