New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the interim order passed by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), directing the Biotech-major Mahyco Monsanto Biotech India Ltd to sell Bt Cotton seed at the same price that it was charging in China.
A vacation bench, comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and C K Thakker, however, directed that if the MRTPC arrived at a price to be fixed, the excessive amount shall be recoverable from the parties concerned.
The state of Andhara Pradesh, in its application before the MRTPC, had alleged that the cotton seed major, a subsidary of a US-based company was charging an exorbitant rate of Rs 1,250 per 450 grams cotton seed packet as a trait value while in China the trait value is as low as Rs 45 per packet.
The state government had earlier challenged the rate fixed by the Mahyco Monsanto Biotech India Ltd on the ground that poor farmers were committing suicides after being entrapped in debt-trap due high cotton seed prices.
The company has been claiming high trait rates on the plea that it has monopoly in the field of production of cotton seeds and was entitled to get royalty.
The Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government, however, denied the claim of the company on the grounds that the company was not having patent for the cotton seeds in India, and several Indian companies were also able to develop bio-technology and produce cotton seeds.
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