Kasaragod: In what could be a first, the Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recognised small dairy farmers buying cows for milk production as consumers, and ruled that they must be protected from exaggerated claims about milk yield. The state commission, upholding the order of the Kasaragod District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, ruled that transactions in rural contexts often lacked formal receipts but deserved equal protection under the Consumer Protection Act.
At the heart of this precedent-setting verdict is a farmer named Mathai K Α and his three-year legal battle which drained him so much that he sold his other three cows and is now working as a rubber tapper. “I became desperate after being cheated. So I sold my cows,” said Mathai, known as Benny in his village Perdala in Badiadka panchayat. “But I was also obsessed with getting justice,” he told Onmanorama. Justice, eventually, was his: The state commission ordered K S Ganesh Rao — the farmer who sold the heavily pregnant Sahiwal cow — to return Rs 36,500 to Mathai, along with Rs 15,000 as compensation and Rs 5,000 towards legal costs.
On April 9, 2022, Mathai bought the strikingly tall and muscular Sahiwal a breed native to the Punjab region — after Rao promised the cow would give 18 litres of milk every day. “Rao told me that after her first calving, the cow gave him 16 litres every day, and insisted that I would get 18 litres after the second,” said Mathai. “I told him that I would be happy with 14. But he said he would take back the cow if the yield was less than 16 litres,” he said.
Mathai said that when he hesitated to buy we cow, Rao’s wife Sukanya called him multiple times, saying they urgently needed at least Rs 20,000 to pay their daughter’s hostel fees in Mangaluru. “I paid the full amount and – brought the cow home,” he said, adding, “I thought, I too have children. I understood their situation.”
What followed was a milk-curdling farce. The cow gave birth to a male calf on April 29, 20 days after he brought it home.
From day one, she refused to suckle the calf and charged at anyone approaching with a pail. “The cow was even kicked. It was an aggressive cow,” Mathai said.
For the first 11 days, the cow produced only two litres of milk per day.
When Mathai contacted Rao about the cow’s erratic behaviour and low milk yield, Rao assured him he would visit and demonstrate how to milk her. But he didn’t show up for a week. Then he said cows would not recognise their owners after three days of separation. “That was a lie. The cow was born and raised in his house,” Mathai said.
Mathai kept calling Rao. Then, on May 15, 2022, Rao’s wife Sukanya filed a complaint at the Kumbla police station, accusing Mathai of threatening her. “The police summoned me and nearly roughed me up,” he said. “I told them I had only called Rao and asked them to verify it.”
When officers called Sukanya again, the story of the cow emerged. The police advised Mathai to leave the cow and her calf at Rao’s house for 10 days, to see if milk production improved. He complied the same day.
On May 21, Rao called with good news: the cow was now yielding 12 litres. The very next day, Mathai reached Rao’s house, 10 km away, at 5 am. “What I saw was a joke,” he recalled. “The cow was surrounded by three people. Rao stood with a stick, Sukanya struggled to milk the cow, and their daughter distracted the animal by feeding it something like a temple prasad. Worse, they had tied the nose rope to the leg to stop it from kicking.” The much-hyped demonstration produced just 2.5 litres.
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“I called Kumbla police again. They told Rao to return the money. He refused.”
Mathai then filed a fresh complaint at his home station in Badiadka. When Rao refused to appear, police referred Mathai to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), which attempted a settlement. Rao told DLSA that Mathai could take the cow and calf back but he wouldn’t return the money. “I was ready to settle for Rs 30,000,” said Mathai.
That’s when DLSA directed him to approach the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
At the commission, Rao changed tack. He denied knowing Mathai, selling him a cow, or ever receiving Rs 36,500. Rao asked Mathai to produce proof of the sale.
Mathai had none. But the police complaint that Rao’s wife Sukanya filed, and the subsequent police inquiry report on the cow became Exhibit 1, proving the sale of the cow and its low yield. The district commission, presided over by Krishnan K and member Beena KG, on June 20, 2023, relied on the SHO’s statement to rule that Rao engaged in “unfair trade practice” and ordered him to return Rs 56,500, including compensation and legal cost, within 30 days.
Instead of complying with the district commission’s order, Rao deposited half the amount (Rs 28,250) with the Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and filed an appeal. At the hearing, his counsel argued that Mathai was not even a “consumer” under the Consumer Protection Act, as a “consumer” is defined as someone who buys goods or services for personal use, not for resale or commercial purposes. He reiterated there was no receipt to prove the transaction. But the State Commission, led by Justice B Sudheendra Kumar and members Ajith Kumar D and K R Radhakrishnan, was unconvinced. “In a transaction like the purchasing of a cow by rustic villagers, we cannot expect a bill or receipt,” the commission noted, dismissing the argument. It ruled that Rao’s false promise amounted to “deficiency in service and unfair trade practice”.
“If documentary evidence is insisted upon in such a situation, it will amount to denying the rights of the consumer, which is against the letter and spirit of the Consumer Protection Act,” the commission said, upholding the district commission’s verdict. It also directed that the Rs 28,250 deposited by Rao be handed over to Mathai and instructed him to pay the to Mathai during the proceedings Rao sold the cow and the male calf separately — likely for slaughter — and pocketed the money. “Even after that, he refused to return what he owed me,” he said.
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