Even as Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has issued a notification related to guidelines on access to biological resources and benefits sharing (ABS), its implementation is still on hold in the absence of a full time National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) chairman.

The notification which is in effect from November 21, 2014 states that when the biological resources are accessed for commercial utilisation, Ayush manufacturers shall have the option to pay the benefit sharing ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent at the respective graded percentages of the annual gross ex-factory sale of the product which shall be worked out based on the annual gross ex-factory sale minus government taxes.

Informs a source associated with the development, "Compliance to ABS is bound to hit a major roadblock in the absence of a regulator, as MoEF is yet to clear the appointment following a conflict of interest in the selection process flagged by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar's predecessor M Veerappa Moily."

It has been pointed out that Union Environment Secretary Dr V Rajagopalan virtually oversaw his own appointment.

As per DoPT Rules, the search-and-selection committee should have recommended a panel of names for selection to the government. Instead, it recommended, without citing any reason, only Dr Rajagopalan’s name for the job. Seven out of 38 applicants were interviewed by the selection panel.

As per the provisions of the Biodiversity Act 2002, the post of the NBA chairman should be occupied by a person of eminence who is an expert in the field and merely being a retired bureaucrat may not fit the bill. For the record, Dr Rajagopalan is an MTech from IIT Madras and a PhD on air pollution modelling from Lucknow University.

It has been given to understand that certain changes were made in the eligibility criteria to favour of retired government officials. The advertisement seeking applications for the post of NBA chairman issued on October 4, 2013, demanded “30 years of experience in dealing with issues of science and social sciences, with at least 5 years of experience of working in the central/ state government at senior level including heading government institutions”. The ministry’s 2011 advertisement for the same post asked for 20-25 years of experience.

Last October, the ministry had raised eyebrows by seeking applications for the NBA chairman’s post 10 months before the incumbent was to demit office. However, Dr Balakrishna Pisupati, the only expert on genetics (plant biotechnology) to have ever been appointed as NBA chairman, resigned in February, 2014. Hem Pande, additional secretary, MoEF, is currently holding temporary charge as NBA chairman.

The NBA is an autonomous body formed in 2003 under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, to regulate and advise the government on matters of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair, equitable sharing of benefits.