'Pashmina Certification Centre' To Be Set Up, Delhi High Court Told In PIL To Enhance Existing FSL Infra For Testing Suspected Shahtoosh Shawls

The Delhi High Court has closed a public interest litigation seeking to improve, augment and enhance existing forensic testing infrastructure available to all Forensic Science Labs (FSLs) engaged in analysis of suspected Shahtoosh Shawls.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela took on record Union Government's statement that the Export and Promotion Council for Handicraft (EPCH) has signed an MoU with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, for setting up a 'Pashmina Certification Centre' for seamless trade of Pashmina products.

Union Government's counsel also told Court that tested Pashmina products are labeled with a traceable unique id tag with individual e-certificates downloadable from the WII's server which enables a seamless trade of such products in national and international markets.

Setting up such a facility in India has been a game changer for the seamless trade of genuine Pashmina products with authentic and tamperproof certification from WII, the counsel added.

Furthermore, it was also submitted that due to heavy processing of finished Pashmina products, DNA extraction and testing was not consistent and could yield only 40% success from the earlier tested samples.

The Court was also informed that DNA testing for finished Pashmina products could not be recommended due to its limitation i.e. the possibility of excessive false negative reporting.

“In view of the aforesaid statements, which are taken on record, the present writ petition is closed,” the Bench said.

The plea was moved by three unions of exporters, manufacturers, traders, and artisans of Pashmina shawls. It sought improved infrastructure in FSLs that are engaged in wildlife forensics and further demanded modern 'Scanning Electron Microscopic' technology and DNA testing procedures in the labs.

The grievance of the petitioners was that customs and criminal prosecutions are initiated against stakeholders of the Pashmina trade on the premise that their consignments for export carry articles 'suspected to be shahtoosh guard hair'. Such actions are adversely impacting the industry at large, the plea added. 

The PIL further said that many exporters facing prosecutions, including the Petitioners, have countless experiences of conflicting results of the government's own forensic reports.

It stated that there were only two empanelled forensic science laboratories in Dehradun and Kolkata, both of which use Light Microscopy for examining consignments suspected to be 'shahtoosh'.

“"It is to be noted that in today's day and age the method of morphological testing through light microscopy, which is the default method utilized by Indian wildlife forensics, is recognized both domestically and globally to be outdated, technologically obsolete & highly prone to false-positive results. The physical characteristics of Pashmina and Shahtoosh fibres are similar in terms of physical properties and tangibility, which makes it nearly impossible to distinguish on the basis of morphological characteristics, most particularly while using the standard Light Microscopy method," the PIL argued.

It was also averred that there was no foolproof method or way for exporters or traders to be certain that the product being sourced from artisans across the country is purely Pashmina.

The petition was moved through Advocates Tanveer Ahmed Mir, Kartik Venu and Shikhar Sharma.

Title: PASHMINA EXPORTERS & MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1212

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