Sec. 22-84. Plant pests.

      Sec. 22-84. Plant pests. The director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station shall have charge of all matters pertaining to official control, suppression or extermination of insects or diseases which are, or threaten to become, serious pests of plants of economic importance. He shall receive no additional compensation for such work, and may designate members of the station staff to carry out certain lines thereof and may employ such other assistance as may be required. Said director may cooperate with the agents of the United States Department of Agriculture in the control of plant pests; may make regulations and orders regarding the destruction or treatment of infested plants; may seize, treat, disinfect or destroy any plants or plant material moved in violation of any quarantine or regulation established under the provisions of this section or suspected of being infested by any dangerous insect pest or plant disease; may prohibit or regulate the transportation of plants and plant materials, brick, stone and quarry products or any other objects or materials liable to carry dangerous pests and may designate certain areas or districts wherein all such plants may be destroyed. Said director is authorized to promulgate, and to enforce by appropriate regulations, a quarantine prohibiting or restricting the transportation of any class of nursery stock, plant, fruit, seed or other article capable of carrying any dangerous plant disease or insect infestation, with reference to which the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States has not determined that a quarantine is necessary and established such quarantine, into or through this state or any portion thereof from any other state, the District of Columbia or any part of such state or said district in which said director finds such plant disease or insect infestation to exist. Said director is authorized to make regulations for the seizure, inspection, disinfection, destruction or other disposition of any nursery stock, plant, fruit, seed or other article capable of carrying any dangerous plant disease or insect infestation, a quarantine with respect to which has been established by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, and which have been transported to, into or through this state in violation of such quarantine. Said director may establish and maintain a quarantine against any premises, district, town or group of towns in this state, provided, before any quarantine is established within the state, a public hearing shall be held, of which five days' notice shall be given to the parties affected, either by mail or by publishing such notice in two newspapers having a circulation in the part of the state affected by such quarantine. Said director or any person authorized by him to enforce the provisions of this section may, at any reasonable time, enter any public or private premises in the performance of his duty. Any person aggrieved by any order of quarantine issued under the provisions of this section may appeal to the Superior Court, or to any judge thereof if said court is not in session, and said court or such judge may grant such relief or issue such order or judgment in the premises as to equity may appertain. Any person interfering with any person in the performance of his duty under the provisions of this section or violating any quarantine or any regulation established under said provisions shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

      (1949 Rev., S. 3251.)