Kolkata: Plantation growers' body Tea Association of India (TAI) has requested the Tea Board to include bought leaf factories as stakeholders in the new law that will replace the existing Tea Act.

A draft Tea (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2022, have been sent to the stakeholders for their feedback. The Bill has included blenders, brokers, exporters, packers, and others as stakeholders, but bought leaf factories have been excluded.

However, given their increasing contribution to the production of the beverage in the country, bought leaf factories should be included in the list of stakeholders in the new law, TAI told the Tea Board in its feedback.

The Bill seeks to project it as a facilitator for the growth of the tea industry as the Tea Act, 1953, has become archaic. Regarding safeguarding the interests of the tea plantation workers, TAI observed that there are no provisions of relevant bylaws in the proposed Bill, which will be useful for this purpose. The Bill also proposed obtaining a certificate of registration for all the stakeholders, including associations from the board.

According to TAI, since it is a representative body of the growers and acts on their behalf, it is not a stakeholder in the strictest sense of the term. Thus, it urged the board to omit associations from getting the certificate of registration. In the proposed Bill, TAI said, there is no Redressal mechanism through courts in conformity with the principles of natural justice.

Source: PTI