The Centre has allowed the Technical Expert Group on Patent Law issues headed by eminent scientist Dr R A Mashelkar to correct the `technical inaccuracies' in its controversial report that drew widespread flaks for alleged plagiarism.
"The Government has agreed to allow the expert group to remove technical inaccuracies in the report," Union Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar disclosed in the Lok Sabha. The TEG will now have three months to `rectify' the recommendations.
Following severe criticisms from different quarters, Dr Mashelkar has written to the Commerce Ministry in February, seeking permission to withdraw the report and submit a fresh one. However, the NGOs and experts wanted scrapping of the committee and constitution of a new one while the Left parties wanted a joint parliamentary committee to go into the complex patent issues.
The group was set up to examine whether patents should be granted to a 'new chemical entity' or 'new medical entity', involving one or more inventive steps. The group was also asked to examine whether it would be compatible with the TRIPS agreement of the WTO to exclude 'microorganisms' from patenting.
The Minister, in a written reply, said reports regarding plagiarism in the report had surfaced in the media and the chairman of the group had sought government approval for withdrawal and review of the report. Mashelkar had wanted the report to be withdrawn as 10 sentences in the report were plagiarised due to "inadvertent" mistakes at the drafting level.