Around Rs.4 lakh have been collected based on the access and benefit sharing (ABS) compliance from 4 manufacturers in the state. This was in response to over 300 notices served by the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) to companies in the past few months.
This comes close on the heels of National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently passing an order for ABS payments by companies engaged in commercial utilisation of castor plant and other bio-resources for drugs and cosmetics.
The MSBB notice served in the past stated that it is required to share benefit among concerned Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) of the state for sustainable use of bio-resources as per Biological Diversity (BD) Act, 2002.
MSBB has the mandate to collect ABS payment under the provisions of Biological Diversity (BD) Act, 2002. 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 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.
As per the notices which state 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 ww.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.