HARYANA PESTICIDES MANUFACTURES ASSOCIATION AND ORS. Vs. CENTRAL INSECTICIDE BOARD & REGISTRATION COMMITTEE AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BOTH the writ petitions address the grievance of the Pesticides Manufacturer Association through its members about certain regulations imposed by the authorities constituted under the Insecticides Act, 1968 (for 'the Act') and the rules thereunder. The two classes of objections that are common to both the writ petitions are (i) that applications by a manufacturer have to be restricted to three certificates of registration in a trimester; and (ii) every manufacturer who seeks for certificate of registration shall also give along with his application an affidavit of the "technical manufacturer" of insecticide that he will make this supply to the petitioner during the tenure of the certificate of registration. A third subsidiary point that arises for consideration in CWP No. 14750 of 2012 is an issue brought by the importers of insecticides, who are fettered with further restriction of how the certificate of registration will be processed, if the source of supply is different from the source for which the registration of the insecticide has already been made.

(2.) THE objection regarding the requirement of giving an affidavit of the technical grade manufacturer is set out on three grounds, namely, (i) it will throttle the choice of the supplier from whom the insecticide manufacturer wants to purchase; (ii) it robs the element of competition amongst supplier and pegs the insecticide manufacturer to deal only with one supplier and be made to pay higher price; and (iii) the best products amongst the suppliers cannot be purchased, if the choice were to be restricted only to one person from whom the affidavit is given.

(3.) I have seen through the rules requirement of the application for registration of insecticide. There are three types of registration contemplated under the Act: -