SC delivers split verdict on nod for GM mustard

Supreme Court delivers split verdict on GM mustard crop approval, orders national policy formulation for GM crops.

The Supreme Court on July 23 pronounced a split verdict on the validity of the Centre’s 2022 decision granting conditional approval for environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard crops.

The Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol however asked the Centre to formulate a national policy with regard to GM crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce in the country.

The case would now be referred to a three-judge Bench to be constituted by the Chief Justice of India.

On October 18, 2022, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)— a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and regulator of genetically modified organisms in the country— recommended the environmental release.

A subsequent decision was taken on October 25, 2022 approving the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11, a variety of GM mustard.

On July 23, in its judgment, the court said the “national policy shall be formulated in consultation with all stakeholders, such as experts in the field of agriculture, biotechnology, State governments, representatives of the farmers, etc”.

It said the government should conduct a national consultation, preferably within the next four months, with the aim of formulating the national policy on GM crops.