New Delhi, June 28 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Central Government and the Central Insecticides Board for permitting a Gujarat-based chemical company to illegally import from China the insecticide-Emamectin Benzoate-with lesser purity, causing serious implications on agriculture as insecticides made out of this could pose problems to crops and human health in India.
The Central Government did not verify the fraudulent claims and allowed the import despite a leading Chinese exporter of Emamectin Benzoate writing it to verify the purity of the pesticides.
The notice was issued on Wednesday on a writ petition filed by the MGR Industries Association which had earlier written to the Union Agriculture Ministry informing them about the irregularities being carried out by government officials in order to provide undue favours to the chemical company.
The petition mentions how Ariculture Ministry officials decided to issue a Certificate of Registration to M/s Meghmani Organics Limited, Ahmedabad, with 95 percent purity for the product (Emamectin Benzoate), when actually the company was importing the same product with a purity of 90 percent from China.
This was decided despite an intimation letter sent to ministry officials by a leading Chinese manufacturer of Emamectin Benzoate, asking for an enquiry in the matter.
Hebei Veyong Bio-Chemical Co Ltd, China had sent a letter to the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIB andRC) of the Ministry of Agriculture on April 25 this year warning it that a Chinese company has claimed false ICAMA (Institute for Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture, China) purity percentage for the chemical.
"We have come to know that some Indian companies have applied for import registration of Emamectin Technical 95 percent minimum purity with source/manufacturer from China. But these sources/manufacturers do not have any ICAMA with purity 95 percent minimum or more which is required by CIB andRC", said the letter. Other than Hebei only three more companies are registered with ICAMA for the molecule with 95 percent purity.
In fact, the basis of this letter by Hebei, the Indian Government did initially react. The registration committee in its 328th meeting held on May 2, 2012, decided that the source of import and the purity of the product imported by M/s Meghmani Organics Ltd, Ahmedabad should be verified from ICAMA through Designated Nodal Authority (DNA) China, DNA India and put up to RC for consideration again.
However, on June 8, in its next meeting, the committee granted permission for the import on basis of an "affidavit" by the importing company raising suspicion over the hurried decision on such a critical issue.
The court on Wednesday also sent a notice to the Chinese manufacturer Zhejian Shenghua Biok Biology Company Limited, which claims to manufacture the product with 95 percent purity when actually it possesses the certificate to manufacture the product with 90 percent purity.
The petition mentions that the Chinese company has made fraudulent claims and the government must investigate the matter. By Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
