Plea challenges new labelling rules for insecticides, pesticides: Delhi HC seeks Centre stand

The Delhi High Court Monday directed the Centre not to take any coercive action, till July 31, against pesticide and insecticide manufacturers who have not adhered to the new labelling rules for small and ultra small packs.

The interim direction by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan came while issuing notice to the Centre and seeking its stand on two pleas challenging its June 4 notification on labelling of small and ultra small packs of insecticides and pesticides.

The bench, while passing the order, also observed that prima facie it appeared that the labelling as mandated by the government was impossible to perform.

It said the manufacturers have been in the business for so long, generating employment and paying taxes, and if they are facing some difficulty in implementing the labelling rules, the government should sit with them and work out a solution.

"Be practical. Assist the manufacturers to continue with their manufacturing. Have a consultation with them. If all are saying no-no (to the labelling rules), you change it," the bench said.

The two separate petitions on the same issue of labelling were moved by Crop Care Federation of India and Crop Life India, both representing the pesticide and insecticide manufacturers.

They have contended that it was impossible to print all the 19 heads of information, including chemical composition, antidote and several other details on the small packs, between 50 to 250 gm or ml, and ultra small packs -- 1 to 50 gm or ml.

The petitioners said that to accommodate all the information that the Centre wants them to print on the pack, they would have to put a 10 ml product in a package which is thrice the normal size and this would amount to "deceptive packaging".

Moreover, such packaging would not be eco friendly, would discourage manufacturers from making smaller quantities of pesticides and insecticide and farmers would be forced to buy the same in larger quantities even if they do not need it in large amounts.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul and advocate Rajashekhar Rao, appearing for the petitioners, told the bench that the manufacturers have to apply by September 3, with a model label containing all information as mentioned in the notification, failing which their registration would be cancelled.

The central government told the court that except some critical information like chemical composition and antidote, the manufacturers have been given the leverage to provide rest of the details in the leaflet inside the pack.

The government also said that around 25,000 manufacturers, including those making small and ultra small packs, have already applied for registration.

The court asked the government to indicate in its reply whether any manufacturers of small and ultra packs have applied for registration and if yes, how many.