 "SC seeks response on plea for withdrawal of undertaking on GM Mustard")
The Supreme Court Tuesday sought the response of NGO 'Gene Campaign' and others on the Centre's plea seeking withdrawal of its oral undertaking of November 2022 that it will not go ahead with the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard in the country.
A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan took note of the Centre's petition and issued notices to the NGO, which had filed the PIL on the issue way back in 2004, and others including activist Aruna Rodrigues.
The Centre, in a fresh application filed in the pending cases, has sought withdrawal of the oral undertaking given by an additional solicitor general that it will maintain status quo on commercial cultivation of GM Mustard.
Lawyer Aparna Bhat, appearing for the NGO, sought time to file the response, saying the plea was submitted late last night.
We have to file a response. They (Centre) want to withdraw the undertaking that they had given this court. This has to be heard and, without our response, it cannot be heard. This undertaking has been in operation all this while. This court may post the matter next week. We can file the reply within two days, Bhat said.
The counsel for the government said a lot of time has passed since the oral undertaking was made.
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That does not mean that it stands withdrawn... The matter is still pending, the bench said.
The counsel for the government said that was why an application has been filed.
On November 3, 2022, the top court had ordered status quo on the decision of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to approve GM Mustarad for commercial cultivation.
It had asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to ensure that "no precipitative action is taken" until an application filed before it on the issue has been heard.
The top court had earlier observed it was more concerned about the risk factors than anything else when it comes to the conditional approval granted by the Centre for environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard.
On October 25 last year, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union environment ministry had approved the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and the parental lines containing barnase, barstar and bar genes so they can be used for developing new hybrids.
The apex court is hearing separate pleas by activist Aruna Rodrigues and NGO 'Gene Campaign' seeking a moratorium on the release of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment pending a comprehensive, transparent and rigorous bio-safety protocol in the public domain conducted by independent expert bodies the results of which are made public.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, had referred to the timeline of conditional approval for environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and said all relevant aspects were deliberated upon and considered.
The Centre had said the government has followed all regulatory processes as per the framework recommended by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the court.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Rodrigues, had submitted that the seeds of GM mustard have started germinating after their environmental release and, before the plants start flowering in a few weeks, they must be uprooted to prevent the environment from getting irreversibly contaminated.
At a meeting on October 18 last year, the GEAC, the country's regulator for genetically modified organisms, recommended the environmental release of mustard hybrid DMH-11 for seed production and testing "as per the existing ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/regulations before commercial release".
The transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) at Delhi University.
The government has so far approved only one GM crop- Bt cotton- for commercial cultivation in 2002.