Grant Of Environmental Clearance To Genetically Modified Mustard Seeds Beyond Judicial Review : Centre Tells Supreme Court

This affidavit was submitted by the Centre in response to an application filed by activist Aruna Rodrigues and others against the decision of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee to endorse commercial cultivation of genetically modified mustard, which in October, received the imprimatur of the Ministry as well. Last month, the Environment Ministry allowed the release of this genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crop, christened "HT Mustard DMH-11", in five states. This is the first time a transgenic food crop has received approval for commercial cultivation in India.

Since 55-60 per cent of edible oil in India is imported, this move, the Centre has maintained, would be critical in enhancing crop yield in order to meet "the emerging challenges in Indian agriculture and ensure food security, while reducing foreign dependency". However, the applicants, highlighting that the introduction of this hybrid crop would be fraught with biosafety hazards, have sought the court's urgent intervention. It has been alleged that the biosafety dossier has not been "put in the public domain in any meaningful way" unlike the times when Bt cotton and Bt brinjal were approved for commercial release. "With short notice, the technical dossier running into thousands of pages was only made available for 30 days at the headquarters of GEAC in New Delhi for physical inspection," the petitioners claimed. The crux of their contention is that "the science and the data" justify a complete and outright ban on herbicide-tolerant crops, particularly HT Mustard DMH-11 and its parent lines, in line with the precautionary principle.

Repelling the contentions of the petitioners, the Centre has told the court, "The conditional approval for environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid and parental lines has been made after following the detailed procedure in law elaborated above and after considering the biosafety data accumulated over several years." In the affidavit, the Ministry has outlined the requisite regulatory and technical framework and guidelines which, it has claimed, enable "a consistent and rigorous risk analysis approach evaluating applications for the environmental release of GE plants" The Ministry has further submitted that the conditional approval has been made in compliance with the said framework and guidelines, and after "a long and exhaustive review process which commenced as far back as in 2010". All aspects of biosafety and health hazards, including the use of rapeseed in other countries and its impact on honeybees, have been considered at length before taking this call in "national and public interest", the Union has told the court.

Last week, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sudhanshu Dhulia, orally asked the Union Government to maintain the status quo on the commercial cultivation of genetically modified mustard and to refrain from taking any precipitate action with respect to its release. The matter was scheduled to be heard on Thursday, November 10, but got adjourned because the affidavit filed by the Union Ministry had not reached the Bench yet. The matter is listed again on November 17.

Case Title

1. Gene Campaign & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. [WP (C) No. 115/2004]

2. Aruna Rodrigues & Ors. v. Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change & Ors. [WP (C) No. 260/2015]