Hyderabad: A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Kumar of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday suspended an interim order granted by a single judge staying the Telangana government’s decision of fixing Rs 50 as royalty per packet of BT cotton seeds, till June 14.
A single judge had granted the stay on the decision of the government in a petition moved by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Pvt Ltd, challenging a GO issued by the government fixing Rs 50 as royalty per packet of BT cotton seeds.
The government had preferred an appeal before the Bench, which had ordered the registry to list all the cases regarding disputes on BT cotton sale price. When these batches of petitions come up for hearing, the Bench sought the counsels to complete their pleadings on Wednesday so that it could deliver the final order.
The counsel appearing for the Telangana government submitted that it would be difficult for them to complete their pleading in such a short span of time and urged the court to adjourn the matter till after the summer vacation and suspend operation of the single judge’s order till then.
He said if the single judge’s order remained in force, it would give scope for the company to get similar orders from other High Courts in the country. Though the counsel for Monsanto opposed the contention of the government counsel, the Bench granted the interim order by suspending the single judge’s order till June 14.
The Centre has mooted a proposal to fix an uniform price for BT cotton seeds across India. The state government recently received a communication from the Centre in this regard.
Biodiversity board seeks royalty from monsanto
The Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board, a statutory body set up by the Union government under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is seeking royalty payments from Monsanto India Ltd for genetic information it alleges was “stolen” from Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) bacteria found in the soils of Mahanandi village in Kurnool district.
Monsanto has strongly denied the allegation claiming that there was absolutely no BT research Andhra Pradesh. When contacted, board chairman R. Hampaiah said BT bacteria found in the soil of Mahanandi in Kurnool district in AP had been used in developing the indigenous version of BT cotton capable of resisting Indian bollworm strains.
