As reported by Special Correspondent in hindu.com on 15 April 2008:
The Hindu : Front Page : Legal tussle over giving out data on bio-safety tests of transgenic crops Legal tussle over giving out data on bio-safety tests of transgenic crops
MUMBAI: While the Supreme Court last Tuesday ordered that bio-safety tests on transgenic crops should be made public, there is a petition pending in the Delhi High Court, which has issued a stay on giving out data on bio-safety tests of genetically engineered brinjal which is under trial.
The company testing transgenic brinjal, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), got a stay last year on the order of the Central Information Commissioner (
CIC) asking the department of biotechnology (DBT) to part with data on bio-safety tests of transgenic brinjal.
Greenpeace is about to challenge Mahyco’s contentions by filing an affidavit by April 23 in the Delhi High Court. Greenpeace activist Divya Raghunandan sought information on bio-safety, toxicity and allergencity tests on transgenic crops like okra, mustard, brinjal and rice under the Right to Information (
RTI) Act. In April 2007, the
CIC asked the DBT to provide all bio-safety data available with it saying that “any further grounds for non-disclosure are invalid even if the information was still in the process of development.”
However, on May 30, 2007, the DBT provided only the names of tests, protocols and result summaries derived from the data for genetically engineered brinjal, but not actual ‘data’ as requested. the DBT said since the data on toxicity, allergencity and other bio-safety data ran into thousands of pages, it could be scrutinised in the Ministry of Environment and Forests in the presence of a Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) representative. There was no data given on the other three crops, rice, okra and mustard, and the DBT said it was still being generated.
The
CIC heard the case again on the basis of a non-compliance petition filed by Ms. Raghunandan on November 12, 2007. Mahyco also appealed on the grounds that the data at stake had immense implications for its commercial interests and that it was never given a chance to represent its case. This, however, was rejected by the
CIC as he felt that the argument that it would affect a third party was addressed before and it did not arise now.
Again on November 22, 2007, the
CIC ordered the DBT to provide the requested information within ten working days or provide Ms. Raghunandan the time frame it needed.
However, Mahyco approached the Delhi High Court and obtained a stay on the order of the
CIC on December 6, 2007.
It has also sought to quash the order on the grounds that the disclosure of the bio-safety information of transgenic crops will affect the commercial interests of the company. For, bio-safety data falls under the protected confidential information covered by the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime and is to be considered an intellectual property of the company.
Mahyco managing director Raju Barwale in a statement to
The Hindu said, “All of our information has been submitted to respective committees designated by the Government of India for appropriate review and analysis. The summary of our research data is also available on the DBT website.
Our petition is about not following the process laid out under the Right to Information (
RTI) Act, [it is] about violation of the principles of natural justice, about protection of confidential trade data from competitive interests permitted under the
RTI Act and to avoid a law and order problem in view of instances of attacks on the field trials, again permitted under the
RTI Act.” Mr. Barwale said, “We are unable to discuss this any further in view of the matter being
sub judice.”