Delhi HC orders panel to submit report on banned pesticides

New Delhi : Delhi High Court Friday directed an experts' committee to submit a status report before Oct 10 suggesting guidelines to prevent rampant use of banned pesticides in vegetables and fruits.

The division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Vipin Sanghi sought the report from the committee for framing a policy for periodic checks to detect pesticide residue in vegetables that pose health threats to people.

"There has been hardly any progress on the status report. In two months, only two meetings have been held. It's not acceptable to us. We expect meetings of the committee to be held more frequently. A status report must be filed positively before two days of the next date of hearing. Post the matter on Oct 10," the bench said.

The court was informed by the state government that committee members held two meetings since May 2, "On Aug 30, they (committee members) are meeting again and probably some action would be taken," said government counsel Meera Bhatia.

The court had earlier directed the government to constitute the committee after it took suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging use of banned pesticides.

The court observed that matters of this nature cannot be delayed and also expressed its displeasure that the committee had met only twice in the last three-and-a-half months.

The seven-member expert committee includes Sandhya Kulshrestha, secretary, central insecticide board and registration committee and Sarita Bhalla, joint director of agriculture ministry as committee's chairperson.

Other members are Dhir Singh, director of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India; N.K. Sharma, principal scientist in the agriculture ministry; S.M. Bhardwaj, food analyst at Delhi's Department of Food Safety; Vipin Bhatnagar, joint director at plant protection quarantine and storage, and senior advocate V.K. Rao.

NGO Consumer Voice's report found that 35 varieties of vegetables and fruits, picked from Delhi markets and tested for pesticide content, had toxins beyond permissible limits.

It told the court that vegetables and fruits sold in the city's markets contained poisons capable of causing cancer and harming the nervous system and liver.

The NGO said that the amount of pesticides used by farmers in India was as much as 750 times higher than European standards.

The court earlier formed a panel of lawyers to examine the pesticide content in various vegetables samples at laboratories.

The panel has so far examined over 10 types of vegetables.

 HC grants more time to committee to frame guidelines

The Delhi High Court today gave an expert committee time till October 8 to frame its guidelines to prevent the rampant use of banned pesticides in vegetables and fruits and submit its report to it by then.

The division bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Vipin Sanghi sought the report from the committee for framing a policy for periodic checks to detect pesticides' residue in vegetables and fruits.

Expressing displeasure over the committee for not holding its meetings frequently to decide the guidelines, the bench said, "There has been hardly any progress to the status report. In two months, only two meetings have been held. It's not acceptable to us.

We expect the committee to convene meetings more frequently. Status report be filed positively two days prior to the next date of hearing," said the bench, while posting the matter for October 10.

The court had earlier directed the Union government to constitute the committee after taking suo motu cognisance of a media report alleging use of banned pesticides in vegetables and fruits.
The court also observed that "the matters of these nature cannot be delayed" and said the committee needed to meet more frequently.
The bench had ordered forming of the seven-member expert committee, headed by Union agriculture ministry's Joint Director Sarita Bhalla with the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee Secretary Sandhya Kulshrestha and others as its members.
The other members are Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Director Dhir Singh, Principal Scientist N K Sharma of the agriculture ministry, Food Analyst S M Bhardwaj of Delhi's Department of Food Safety, Joint Director (Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage) Vipin Bhatnagar and senior advocate V K Rao.