Following actions taken in Uttarakhand and Gujarat for non-compliance to access and benefit sharing (ABS), the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) plans to take action against the ayurvedic manufacturers in the state for non-compliance following issuance of around 350 notices in the past three months. MSBB till date has received responses from only 20 manufacturers in the state and that too has not been satisfactory, according to an MSBB official.

As per the ABS compliance of Biodiversity Act, 2002, manufacturers are accountable to share details of the source from where raw material has been procured and share a certain per cent of the revenue generated out of the production to further the cause of biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use. The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) had also notified ABS guidelines through a Gazette Notification on November 21, 2014 to boost sustainable use of bio-resources across the country.

"It is high time that we should take action against the companies as the state biodiversity board has the powers to impose fine to the tune of Rs.two lakhs or even more on the manufacturers as per the provisions of the Biodiversity Act, 2002. Our appeals and requests have failed to achieve the desired results. The manufacturers have tried to evade the law on flimsy grounds despite being given sufficient time. Our initiative to discuss on ABS payments with the manufacturers recently in Pune could not also take up due to lack of co-operation from the manufacturers," rues an MSBB official.

He further added that action taken by the board can't be challenged in other courts because penalty for non-compliance cannot guarantee a stay from the courts as well because the state biodiversity boards, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and central government are empowered to take legal action for the non-compliance. Compliance to the Act is meant to encourage judicious use of the respective bio-resource in the long term from agriculture and forest areas."

As per the MOEF notification on ABS, when the biological resources are accessed for commercial utilisation or the bio-survey and bio-utilisation leads to commercial utilisation, the applicant shall have the option to pay the benefit sharing ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent at the following 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. State biodiversity boards across the country had started issuing notices to the Ayush manufacturers for compliance to ABS and asked manufacturers to register with them directing them to do so at the earliest.

According to Sections 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 3 years with fine or 5 years with fine or both. The notice states that it is required to share benefit among concerned Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) of the state under direction from MSBB.

Till date, over 34000 BMCs and 28 State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) have been set up under Section 22(2) of the Act across the country. Local bodies have constituted the BMCs in respective states as per Section 41 of the Act.