Even as Ayush manufacturers are mandated as per law to share details of bio-resource and also a certain per cent of the revenue borne out of its commercial utilisation, only 20 manufacturers in the state in response to 350 notices served till date has submitted the requisite details.
The notice served also states that it is required to share benefit among concerned Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) of the state for sustainable use of bio-resources as per Biodiversity Act, 2002.
In response to the same, manufacturers have, however, questioned the irrationality of the ABS notification saying that it is applicable to foreign companies only. It is not applicable to Indian manufacturers as most of the raw material is not commercially utilised. On the other hand, as per an MSBB official, law exempts commonly traded commodities for general consumption and not commercial utilisation of bio-resource as stipulated in the November 21, 2014 access and benefit sharing (ABS) notification.
Manufacturers have also been questioning the accountability or liability which as per the provisions of the law lies only with the manufacturer when the details of source of raw material rests with the supplier or trader exclusively. Besides this, the cost associated with licence fee is only Rs. 600 for three years and product fee is Rs. 100. A registration fee of Rs. 5,000 in Form I is irrational and defies all logic.
As per the notices which states that details of bio-resource should be filled as an application in Form I under Rule 17 of Maharashtra Biological Diversity Rules, 2008 is also available on website www.maharashtrabiodiversityboard.gov.in. The manufacturer is requested to download and apply in aforesaid Form I and send it to the MSBB with a fee of Rs. 5,000 in the form of a demand draft drawn in favour of "The Member Secretary MSBB", payable at Nagpur.
As per Form I, it is also required to furnish information like name and address of the company, name of panchayat or Nagar Palika from where raw material has been acquired, name and quantity of biological resources used annually, area and annual production (year wise) and annual gross turn over (gross revenue).
Under Section 56 of the Act, it is stated that if any person contravenes any direction given or order made by the central government, the state government, the National Biodiversity Act or the State Biodiversity Board for which no punishment has been separately provided under this Act, he shall be punished with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees and in case of a second or subsequent offence, with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees and in case of continuous contravention with additional fine which may extend to two lakh rupees everyday during which the default continues.
According to Section 7 and 24 (2) of the Act, organisations extracting plant based material for commercial purpose without intimation to MSBB are liable under Section 55 (2) of the Act and shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend up to three years with fine or five years with fine or both.