M.Gobineelan, Son Of P.P.Mani vs The Secretary To The Government, ... on 18 November, 2020

[Cites 9, Cited by 0]

National Green Tribunal

M.Gobineelan, Son Of P.P.Mani vs The Secretary To The Government, ... on 18 November, 2020

Bench: K. Ramakrishnan

Item No.04:

               BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
                    SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI

               Original Application No. 155 of 2017 (SZ)

                        (Through Video Conference)

IN THE MATTER OF:

     M. Gobineelan                                    ...Applicant(s)
                                       Versus

     The Secretary to the Government,
     Department of Environment & Forest,
     Chennai and Ors.                                 ...Respondent(s)


Date of hearing: 18.11.2020.


CORAM:

     HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER

     HON'BLE MR. SAIBAL DASGUPTA, EXPERT MEMBER


For Applicant(s):              None.

For Respondent(s):             Sri. S.N. Parthasarathi through
                               M/s. Girija for R1 to R3 & R6.
                               Sri. C. Kasirajan through
                               M/s. Meena for R4.
                               Sri. Ramachandra Moorthy for R5.
                               Sri. S.R. Sundaram for R8.
                               Sri. Abdul Saleem &
                               Sri. Saravnan for R9.


                                   ORDER

1. As per order dated 04.02.2020, this Tribunal had considered the pleadings and directed the Central Government to submit a status report through Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' 1 Welfare as to whether any byelaw has been framed as required under Section 7 of Insecticide of Act, 1968 and if so, when it was notified and if it is not done, is there any intention on the part of the Government in framing such byelaw as required under Section 7 of Insecticide Act, 1968 and posted the case to 25.03.2020 for filing their report and thereafter, the matter is being adjourned from time to time by notification.

2. Thereafter, it was taken up on 19.08.2020 and directed the 9th respondent/Agriculture University, Coimbatore to file a report on these aspects and posted the case to 15.10.2020 and on 15.10.2020, it was adjourned to today by notification.

3. When the matter came up for hearing today through Video Conference, there is no representation for the applicant. Sri. S.N. Parthasarathi through M/s. Girija represented respondents 1 to 3 & 6, Sri. C. Kasirajan through M/s. Meena represented 4 th respondent, Sri. Abdul Saleem and Saravanan represented 9th respondent, Sri. S.R. Sundaram represented 8th respondent and Sri. Ramachandra Moorthy, Central Government Panel Lawyer represented 5th respondent.

4. In compliance with the directions given by this Tribunal, 9th respondent has filed their status report which reads as follows:-

"STATUS REPORT ON REGULATION OF PESTICIDES In India, The Insecticides Act, 1968 and Insecticides Rules, 1971 framed there under regulate import, manufacture, 2 sale, transport, distribution and use of insecticides with a view to prevent risk to human beings or animals, and mater connected there with .

The insecticides Act introduced to ,make the availability of quality pesticides in the Country to the farmers and general public for house-hold use, for protecting the agricultural crops from the ravages of their pests, humans from diseases and nuisance caused by public health pests and to regulate their use with a view to reduce hazards to human. In the Act and the Rules framed there under, there is a compulsory registration of the pesticides at the Central level and license for their manufacture; formulation and sales are dealt with at the State level.

For the effective enforcement of the Insecticides Act, the two bodies have been constituted at the Central level viz. Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee. Central insecticide Board is constituted under the Act to Advice the Central and State Governments on technical matters. The Registration Committee (RC) approves the use of pesticides and new formulations to tackle the pest problem in various crops.

Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine & Storage is an attached Office of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It was established the year 1946 as an apex organisation for advising the Government of India and State Governments on all the matter related to plant protection. The Directorate is headed by plant protection Advisor. Plant protection activities encompasses activities aimed to minimizing crop losses due to pests through integrated pest management, plant quarantine, regulation of pesticides locust warning & control and training in desert areas besides training and capacity building in plant protection . Pesticide regulation and quality control is one of the activity of this office implemented through CIB& RC Central Insecticide Laboratories, Regional pesticide Testing Laboratories and monitoring of pesticides residues at national level. The organisation structure is given below:

Central Insecticide Board (CIB) 3 Central Insecticide Board (CIB) has been constituted under S.4 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 advice the Central and State Governments on technical matters related to safe use of pesticides. It is empowered to ban manufacturing, import or sale of pesticides if concerns are raised about danger to public health and safety or any adverse report are received about toxic effect of any pesticides. However, there is no provision for periodic scientific evaluation of pesticides used in the country and Central Insecticide Board (CIB) does not carry out any research / study on its own. The action for ban of particular pesticide is taken only after receipt of general information on ban or restriction of particular pesticides in other countries and based on the recommendation of the Expert Committee constituted for the purpose.

Director General of Health Services, Ministry of health and Family Welfare is ex-officio Chairman of CIB. Board consists of 28 members. Out of which 16 are ex-officio and are 12 nominated members. The Central Insecticide Board (CIB) has detailed mechanism of review of toxicity data of a particular molecule. These toxicity data is generated on laboratory animals and submitted to CIB which has panel of experts to review. Based on the data submitted the Expert Group Recommends permitting of a particular molecule.

ICMR/NIOH (National Institute of Occupational Health) serves as one of the members of this Expert Group of CIB when the data is reviewed. Since the pesticides cannot be used unless the Registration is completed it is not possible to conduct human studies before the Registration process is completed. As a general scientific principle toxicity and health effects experiments are usually conducted on laboratory animals (higher mammals like dog and monkey also, if required) and then extrapolated to the field and human exposure conditions.

The central insecticides Board regularly reviews available literature and periodically examines the continuity of the use of particular pesticides. If evidence of excessive toxicity is found those pesticides are removed from the list of permitted chemicals. As a member of the expert group reviewing the registration and use of pesticides, ICMR can also raise any 4 issues which come to light to initiate a review of a particular molecule.

Objectives

1. Central insecticides Board advice the Central Government and State Governments on technical matters arising out of this Act and to carry out other functions assigned to the Board by or under this Act.

2. The matters on which board may advice includes,

a) The risk to human being or animals involved in the use of insecticides and safety measures necessary prevent such risk;

b) The manufacture, sale, storage, transport and distribution of insecticides with a view to ensure safety to human beings or animals.

Functions

a) Advice the Central Government and State Governments on the manufacture of insecticides under the Industries (Development And Regulation ) Act, 1951(65 of 1951)

b) Specify the uses of the classification of insecticides on the basis of their toxicity as well as their being suitable for aerial application.

c) Advice tolerance limits for insecticides residues and establishment of minimum interval between the application of insecticides and harvest in respect of various commodities.

d) Specify the shelf-life of insecticides.

e) Suggest colourisation, including colouring matter which may be mixed with concentrates of insecticides, particularly those of highly toxic nature.

f) Carry out such other functions as are supplemental incidental or consequential to any of the functions conferred by the Act or rules.

g) By laws have been framed for Central Insecticide Board. The bylaws require Central Insecticide Board to meet atleast once in 6 months.

Registration Committee A Registration Committee has been constituted under S.5 of Insecticides Act, 1968 to register insecticides after scrutinising formulae verifying claims of efficacy and safety to human beings and animals specify the precautions against 5 poisoning and any other function incidental to these matters. To assess efficacy of the Insecticides and their safety to human beings and animals, the RC has evolved exhaustive guidelines/ data requirements which inter- alia includes residue in crops on which the insecticides are intended to be used. The onus lies with the importers/ manufacturers to generate data relating to the insecticides for which registration are sought.

For registration of a pesticide the applicant is required to submit studies on the following four parameters: i) Chemistry ii) Bio-efficacy iii) toxicity iv) packaging. The bio efficacy studies are required to be conducted from State Agriculture Universities or ICAR institutes. The registration Committee may refuse registration of pesticide whenever issues pertaining to safety have not been satisfactorily adhered to. Registration Committee meets normally once in a month to transact its business. It meets fortnightly exclusively for registration for export, if required.

Objectives i. To register insecticide after scrutinising their formulae and verifying claims made by the importer or the manufacturer as the case may be as regards their efficacy and safety to human being and animals; and ii. To perform such other functions as are assigned to it by or under this Act Functions The Registration Committee shall, in addition to the functions assigned to it by the Act perform the following functions, namely a. Specify the precautions to be taken against poisoning through the use or handling of Insecticides b. Carry out such other incidental or consequential matters necessary for carrying out the functions assigned to it under the Act or Rules.

The secretariat of CIB & RC is entrusted with carrying out all the activities, which offshoot directly from the responsibilities entrusted to the functioning of CIB and RC, besides other allied matters. These involve 6  Processing of applications for grant of registration of insecticides, including scrutiny of issuing of Certificates of Registration after approval by the RC every month  Dealing with the cases for inclusion of new insecticides in Schedule to the Act  Processing of post registration matters of insecticides  Issuing import permits for import of sample quantities of insecticides for research, test and trial purposes. Issuing import permits for import of insecticides for non- insecticidal uses  Dealing of matters related to appeals, RTIs, Court cases etc pertaining to the Secretariat  Formulating draft guidelines for data generation scientifically and prescribing data requirement for registration of insecticides.

 Rendering advice on technical matters to Central and State Governments as well as pesticide industry.  Amendments to the Act as well as the Rules  Review of insecticides for restricting, banning or continued use  Organising CIB meetings for deciding policy issues and RC meetings for grant of registrations endorsements and import permits  Facilitating fixing of Tolerance limit/Maximum Residue limit of pesticides on agricultural commodities.

Central Insecticides Laboratory  To analyse such samples of insecticides sent to it under the act by any officer or authority and submission of certificates of analysis to the concerned authority  To analyse samples of materials for insecticides residues under the provisions of the Act  To carry out such investigations as may be necessary for the purpose of ensuring the conditions of Registration of Insecticides.

 To determine the efficacy and toxicity of insecticides.  To carry out such other functions as may be entrusted to it by the Central Government or by a State Government with 7 the permission of the Central Government and after consultation with the Central Insecticides Board.  To facilitate framing of National standards on pesticides for monitoring their quality and residues.

The Central Insecticides Laboratory consists of four divisions as mentioned below A. Chemistry Division The chemistry division of CIL, NABL accredited laboratory is setup for analysing and discharging techno legal requirements as specified under rule 5, Insecticides Rules, 1971. The main function of Chemistry Division of CIL is to analyse pesticides samples from various sources as described below in accordance to Insecticides Act, 1968 &Insecticides Rules, 1971.. Beside the above said work, the laboratory is also engaged in analysing investigatory samples of various fields received from various government agencies.

B. BIOASSAY DIVISION Bioassay division of Central Insecticides Laboratory is established under rule 5 (d) of Insecticides Rules, 1971 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 under scheme implementation of insecticides Act. Bioassay Division is accredited by NABL for Biological testing to discharge the Techno-Legal requirement as specified under rule 5 (d) of Insecticides Rules, 1971.

C. MEDICAL TOXICOLOGY DIVISION Medical toxicology division is created in CIL in order to verify the safety claims made by the manufacturers of pesticides in the field of Toxicity Study. This division has to generate data and advice to the Government to take suitable course of action. In such cases, there is a need for adopting the risk management strategy in order to reduce the hazard to the human beings and environment. For this purpose various objectives were decided to undertake Acute, oral/Dermal LD 50 study, short term studies/sub-acute/sub-chronic toxicity study, chronic toxicity study, Health monitoring study training to Medical Doctors on Diagnosis, Management and Treatment of Pesticide Poisoning.

D. PACKAGING AND PROCESSING DIVISION Pre and post registration verification of the packaging and labelling claims/requirements mad by the manufacturers/registrants. Verification/ analysis of the packaging and labelling samples received under Rule 5(c) of the Insecticides Act, 1968 and rules there under in the context of the conditions laid down on the certificate of Registration issued under Insecticides Act, 1968. Technical guidance the to the BIS, in formulating, updating and amending the standards of pesticides quality control, safety, storage, transportation and use etc. imparting training to the processing, labelling and other required parameters; verification of data on shelf life claims of pesticides and their formulations as per protocol approved by the registration committee and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on quality control and packaging.

Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) are the regulator / standards for pesticides residues in food commodities. The department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture is regularly monitoring the pesticide residues in food commodities and environmental samples under the central section scheme, "Monitoring of Pesticide Residue at National Level". The scheme was initiated during 2005-06 with the participation of various laboratories representing Ministry of Agriculture, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer, Ministry of Commerce and State Agricultural Universities across the country. While the Registration Committee (RC) registers pesticides for their usage, their MRL in food and commodities are prescribed under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011 was formulated replacing the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Rules of 1955. MRL is established taking into account the toxicological 9 data of the pesticide as well as the trials on crops under good agricultural practices.

Regulation on use of pesticides under Insecticide Act, 1968 Totally so far 295 pesticides (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides) and 746 formulations have been registered for regular use in the country insecticides/pesticides registered under Section 9 (3) of the Insecticides Act, 1968 for use in the Country (http/ppqs.gov.in accessed on 21.09.2020). To control household pests in houses, 44 insecticides are approved by the registration committee; five insecticides are approved for protecting buildings from termites; fourteen insecticides are approved to control termites in agricultural crops; six are insecticides approved for the control of stored grain pests; six are insecticides and their formulations approved for rodent control in field and house/godown; 13 are biopesticides approved for mosquito control under public health programme and 16 are insecticides approved for mosquito control under public health programme.

Though there is no specific provision for periodic scientific evaluation of impact of insecticides on human and animal health in the Insecticides Act, 1968 as and when the information about toxic effect or any insecticides or the information that particular insecticide is banned/severely restricted in other countries comes to the notice of the Government, such insecticides get reviewed by Expert Committees constituted from time to time. On the basis of recommendations of such Review Committees, Government banned manufacture, import and use of forty pesticides; import, manufacture and use of four pesticide formulations; two pesticide/pesticide formulations are banned for use but continued to manufacture for export; withdrawn eight pesticides; refused registration of 18 pesticides; restricted use of nine pesticides in the country and six insecticides to be phase out by 31st December, 2020 for use in the country.

Recently also in view of the European Food Safety Authority report about posing risk by use of Neonicotinoid 10 pesticides on bees, Government has constituted a Committee of Experts on 8th July, 2013 under the chairmanship of Dr. Anupam Verma, Adjunct Professor (Retd.), Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi to review the use of 6 Neonicotinoid pesticides registered in India. Further, the Expert Committee has recommended the continuance of their use in India till robust scientific data on adverse effect on honey bees is brought to light. Section 27 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 also provides prohibition of sale etc. of insecticides for reason of public safety and section 28 provides for notification of cancellation of registration etc. The Expert Committee also reviewed 66 pesticides which are currently banned/ restricted/ withdrawn in other countries but continue to be registered for domestic use in India.

The committee notified to ban 20 pesticides under Banning of pesticide order, 2016 which came into force on 8th August, 2018. Twelve pesticides were banned w.e.f. January 2018 and the use of others is completely banned w.e.f. 2020. The rationale for banning as indicated in the expert committee report include: the pesticides belong to class la or lb under WHO classification of hazardous pesticides, toxic to aquatic organisms, toxic to bee, act as human carcinogen, unacceptable persistence or listed in Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC treaty) etc. Further to this, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a draft order, „Banning of Insecticides Order, 2020‟ in May this year which prohibits the manufacture, sale, and use of 27 pesticides in India as they were likely to involve risk to human being and animals. The list includes pesticides which have been banned in the European Union, like Monocrotophos which has been classified by WHO as highly hazardous. The pesticide is banned in 122 countries and was also found to have led to the pesticides poisoning deaths of farmers in Maharashtra. Methomyl and Carbofuran have also been labelled as extremely toxic by WHO. Even Malathion and Chloropyriphos which are used to counter locust infestations as per the Ministry‟s contingency plan, are part of the list.

This order is being debated sine the list includes most commonly used insecticides.

Role of ICAR/SAUs ICAR/Department of Agriculture Research and Education play on role in registration of pesticides under the Insecticides Act, 1968. ICAR offers its comments on bio efficacy, one of the essential requirements for the registration. Comments and approval are also given based on degradation of the pesticides to levels below detection at the recommended doses and duration of crops. These practices when followed do not adversely affect the soil and human health and productivity. All over the nation data generation on degradation of pesticide residues in food crops is co ordinate by ICAR through 19 laboratories located in various states.

There are 32 laboratories in country are monitoring pesticides level in food samples across the country under Monitoring of Pesticides Residues at National Level (MPRNL) programme Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare wherein, samples of vegetables, fruits, pulses, spices, wheat, rice, fish, etc. are collected and analysed for possible presence of pesticides level. FSSAI have set standards for maximum pesticides residues in food products and department of DAC & FW, FSSAI and State Governments are responsible for ensuring compliance to these standards."

5. They also produced certain Gazette Notification issued by the Central Government dated 08.08.2018 and 14.05.2020 regarding the pesticides which are permitted and banned under the Insecticides Act, 1968. That also only general in nature and that does not consider the allegations made by the applicant in this regard.

6. Though, they have only mentioned about the role of certain organizations as per the Insecticides Act, 1968 and that will not help us in disposing the matter. However, we feel that the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare may be able to highlight this aspect so as to help the Tribunal to pass appropriate orders in this regard. They are also directed to consider the earlier order passed by this Tribunal on 04.02.2020 and submit a status report regarding the same as well.

7. The learned counsel appearing for the 8 th respondent submitted that if some time is granted, they may be able to come with some details and also the status report regarding the manner in which the decisions are being taken regarding the nature of pesticides to be used for agricultural purpose and how this is being reviewed from time to time, whenever complaints have been received regarding adverse effect either on agriculture or health of the people while using such pesticides during cultivation by the farmers after getting necessary inputs regarding the same.

8. So, the respondents 5 & 8 are directed to submit their status report after considering the directions given by this Tribunal in the order mentioned above before the next hearing date viz., 13.01.2021 by e-filing along with necessary hardcopies to be produced as Rules.

9. The learned counsel appearing for the 9th respondent is directed to serve the copy of the status report submitted by them to counsel appearing for the respondents 5 & 8 so as to enable them to consider the same while submitting their independent status report as directed by this Tribunal.

10. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the above mentioned respondents by e-mail immediately so as to enable them to comply with the direction.

11. For consideration of report, post on 13.01.2021.

....................................J.M. (Justice K. Ramakrishnan) .............................E.M. (Shri. Saibal Dasgupta) O.A. No.155/2017, 18th November, 2020. Mn.

Unlock Advanced Research with PRISMAI

National Green Tribunal