Centre moves Supreme Court to withdraw its undertaking against commercial cultivation of GM mustard

New Delhi, August 22

The Centre has moved the Supreme Court seeking to withdraw its oral undertaking that it will maintain a status quo and will not go ahead with the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India.

A Bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna issued notices to the ‘Gene Campaign’– an NGO – which petitioned the top court in 2004 and others, including activist Aruna Rodrigues asking them to respond to the Centre’s plea.

As the Government counsel submitted that a lot of time had passed since the oral undertaking was made, the Bench said, “That does not mean that it stands withdrawn… The matter is still pending.”

That’s why an application has been filed, the Government counsel responded.

“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,” advocate Aparna Bhat told the Bench on behalf of ‘Gene Campaign’.

At a meeting on October 18 last year, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the country’s regulator for genetically modified organisms, had 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.

On November 3, 2022, the top court had ordered status quo on the GEAC’s decision to approve GM Mustard for commercial cultivation and asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to ensure that “no precipitative action is taken” until an application filed before it on the issue was heard.

‘Gene Campaign’ and Rodrigues have sought 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 were made public.

The Centre had asserted that the government followed all regulatory processes as per the framework recommended by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the court.

Referring to the timeline of conditional approval for environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11, Attorney General R Venkataramani had said all relevant aspects were considered.