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Center in its two office memorandum (OM) dated 29th May, 2008 and 7th February, 2014 along with a letter issued by the ministry of Agriculture with which ordered for production of Basmati rice to be restricted within Indo-gangetic regions. The seven state specified which were specified by center were Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Parts of western Uttar Pradesh and State of Jammu and Kashmir under the garb of maintaining the quality and purity of seeds. This meant that only the rice grown in these above specified regions would be termed as basmati and seeds so produced for Basmati cultivation could not be grown outside these specified states. This makes Basmati rice a Geographical Indication of these seven states.
However, upon a petition moved by the Madhya Pradesh government which disputes that its 13 districts should also be included in the Geographical indication for basmati variety of rice court delved into the 2 OM’s issued by center. The court making its remark on 2 OM’s said that- “OM-I is issued to restrict Basmati production to only regions in the Indo-Gangetic plain. OM-I, apart from specifying the characteristics of Basmati rice, seeks to ascribe a Geographical Indication to the said variety. OM-II seeks to proscribe registration of Basmati variety for certification and foundation seed production outside the area detailed under G-I for Basmati rice.” The bench held both OM to be outside the scope and scheme of Seeds Act.
The court in its judgment clarified that “The Seeds Act is limited to ensuring that the seeds available to farmers conform to the minimum limits of germination and purity and the marks or label affixed thereon correctly indicate so” and thereby set asides the memorandums along with center’s decision to restrict the production of Basmati rice only to specified regions.
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