Pesticides in veggies: Centre, Delhi fail to address the issue, HC told
6 Feb 2014 5:54 AM IST
The submission was made in a report placed before the court by the amicus curiae appointed to examine if banned pesticides are being used in fruits and vegetables and what steps the authorities have taken to address the issue.
The report was opposed by Delhi government which said it found no banned or restricted pesticides in any of the several samples of fruits and vegetables it had tested. On other hand, the Centre told a bench of chief justice NV Ramana and RS Endlaw that maintaining of food standards in Delhi is the duty of the city government and the Union government has nothing to do with the same.
The bench, however, told the Centre that educating the farmers not to use banned, restricted or non-recommended pesticides is their duty as it is a pan-India exercise. It also said ‘education of pesticide manufacturers to not use banned ingredients is also essential’.
The court also impleaded as parties in the matter the ministries of Agriculture, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Science and Technology, Environment and Forests and Health and Family Welfare and Delhi government’s department of food safety on a plea moved by the amicus curiae, senior advocate Sanjay Jain. Jain said these authorities needed to be made a party in the case as their responses are required in the issue before the court.
‘Except testing one or more additional fruits, no fruitful work has been done,’ Jain said in his report.
‘In affidavits submitted by various government agencies, it appears an effort has been made to portray that presence of pesticides in fruits and vegetables beyond permissible limits does not exist. However, a perusal of the latest news reports dispel these made-up submissions...,’ the report said. ‘The Union of India and GNCT of Delhi in their responses have failed to address the larger issues and only concentrated on testing samples of a few fruits and vegetables to find or rule out traces of only a few pesticides, completely oblivious to the fact that a few test reports on inadequate sample size, not representative in character, cannot address the problem which is of enormous proportions.
The report was opposed by Delhi government which said it found no banned or restricted pesticides in any of the several samples of fruits and vegetables it had tested. On other hand, the Centre told a bench of chief justice NV Ramana and RS Endlaw that maintaining of food standards in Delhi is the duty of the city government and the Union government has nothing to do with the same.
The bench, however, told the Centre that educating the farmers not to use banned, restricted or non-recommended pesticides is their duty as it is a pan-India exercise. It also said ‘education of pesticide manufacturers to not use banned ingredients is also essential’.
The court also impleaded as parties in the matter the ministries of Agriculture, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Science and Technology, Environment and Forests and Health and Family Welfare and Delhi government’s department of food safety on a plea moved by the amicus curiae, senior advocate Sanjay Jain. Jain said these authorities needed to be made a party in the case as their responses are required in the issue before the court.
‘Except testing one or more additional fruits, no fruitful work has been done,’ Jain said in his report.
‘In affidavits submitted by various government agencies, it appears an effort has been made to portray that presence of pesticides in fruits and vegetables beyond permissible limits does not exist. However, a perusal of the latest news reports dispel these made-up submissions...,’ the report said. ‘The Union of India and GNCT of Delhi in their responses have failed to address the larger issues and only concentrated on testing samples of a few fruits and vegetables to find or rule out traces of only a few pesticides, completely oblivious to the fact that a few test reports on inadequate sample size, not representative in character, cannot address the problem which is of enormous proportions.
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