DHANUKA AGRITECH LTD. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present writ petition has been preferred under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, assailing order dtd. 10/9/2021 ("Impugned Order") passed by Respondent No. 2/Appellate Authority, rejecting appeal-cum-Revision Petition No. 12 of 2021 under the Insecticides Act, 1968 ("the Act"). The Petitioner had preferred the aforesaid appeal against the decision ("impugned decision") of the Registration Committee ("RC") taken at the 430th meeting held on 23/7/2021, as modified by Agenda item 1.0 of its 431st meeting held on 27/8/2021. Vide this impugned decision, registration certificate was granted to Respondent no.4 under Sec. 9(3) of the Act for import of Halosulfuron methyl technical 98% min. and for indigenous manufacture of formulation Halosulfuron methyl 75% WG.

(2.) The Petitioner is a registered company, being granted registration under Sec. 9(3) of the Act for import of Halosulfuron methyl 75% WG formulation from M/s. Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd., KowaHitotsubashi Building, 7-1, 3-Chome, Kanda-Nishiki-Cho, ChiyodaKu, Tokyo 101-0054, Japan. Registration Certificate dtd. 26/12/2014 has been issued to the Petitioner, and thereafter the Petitioner has been involved in selling the aforesaid formulation under the trade name "Sempra".

(3.) Another player in the market is Respondent no.4, who was granted Research, Test and Trial Permit ("RTT Permit") in 2011 to import sample of Halosulfuron methyl Technical 98% w/w min. from Fertiago, Singapore. It was granted for the purpose of generating data to be submitted in the future along with any applications for registration. In the year 2016, Respondent No.4 filed its application for the purpose of obtaining registration for import of aforesaid chemical. However, a different source of import i.e. Jiangsu, China was cited by Respondent no.4, even though previously Respondent No.4 had obtained the RTT Permit by mentioning Singapore as the source of import.