No u-turn, govt seeks SC’s direction to take forward GM mustard sowing

New Delhi: With the sowing season for mustard is approaching and there is no decision yet on commercial release of GM Mustard, the government, through a petition, has sought direction from the Supreme Court to take forward the mustard sowing during the upcoming rabi sowing season.

In a plea, submitted before the top court, the Environment Ministry has stated that despite the matter being heard on several occasions subsequently, arguments by the parties could not be concluded and the interlocutory application filed by the petitioners is pending before the court.

However, the Centre, in its application, said, “The oral statement made on behalf of the Union of India on November 3 was in the specific context of the present matter being listed for final hearing the following week.

This was not intended to halt the entire process of research/testing under the conditional approval by the government (on October 25) for an extended period of time.”

The Centre further informed the court that the second growing season under the conditional approval granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is also approaching in the months of September and October this year.

The application requested the court to “consider discharging the Union of India from the oral statement made on November 3”.

Explaining about the government’s application, a senior official said, “The application is regarding seeking clear direction from the Supreme Court. It’s not an U-turn as what has been reported in a section of the media. The government, through an oral submission, had assured the court it would not continue sowing GM Mustard seed to any other identified location after the case was heard in the court on November 3 last year.”

Till the time of hearing, sowing of GM mustard seed was already done at eight out of ten locations, the official said, adding that no further sowing was done after the oral submission.

So, in the application, the government has withdrawn that oral submission, the official said, adding that the Post Release Monitoring Committee (PRMC) has also stated in its report that the trail was in excellent condition and a clear direction of the court would help in expediting the mustard sowing process as the concerned agencies need some time for making available GM mustard seeds to identified farmers.

The centre also stated that mustard is the most important edible ould and seed meal crop of India.