New Delhi, May 15 The Supreme Court on Friday was urged to list for hearing a plea seeking contempt proceedings against top government officials alleging a “wilful and deliberate” violation of its orders on the release of genetically modified and gene-edited crops.
The contempt plea, filed by Aruna Rodrigues as part of her 2005 PIL on the issue, alleged that the Centre has not followed the July 23, 2024, judgement and various earlier orders of the apex court by which it was directed to first evolve a comprehensive national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops through a consultative process involving experts, state governments, and all stakeholders before releasing such crops.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Rodrigues, told a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the contempt plea, which was filed much earlier, is yet to be listed for hearing before a bench.
The CJI said he would look into the submission.
The contempt plea has named Tanmay Kumar, Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, and Amanseep Garg, Chairperson, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), as parties.
The plea referred to "unlawful" commercial release of Herbicide Tolerant (HT) Basmati rice varieties, branded as ‘RobiNOweed’, and other gene-edited varieties like ‘Kamla’ (DRR Rice 100).
It said these releases occurred in May 2024 and May 2025, critical windows during which the Supreme Court had either reserved its judgment or specifically directed that no GM crops be released until a comprehensive national policy was evolved.
It said the Centre gave "solemn assurances" to the bench between 2016 and 2017 that no environmental release of GM crops would take place.
By effectuating the sale of these seeds, the petition claimed that the government has made a “mockery of the judicial process”.
The plea raises an alarm over the irreversible contamination of India’s rice germplasm, which consists of more than 80,000 unique accessions.
India is the “centre of origin” for rice, and the technical expert committee (TEC) previously appointed by the top court had recommended a total ban on HT crops in such regions.
“The release of HT rice initiates irreversible contamination of India’s priceless rice germplasm,” the petition said, adding that this could collapse India’s status as a leading exporter of non-GMO Basmati rice, a trade valued at more than USD 12 billion (approximately Rs 1 lakh crore).
It said pursuant to the judgment of May 10, 2012, the top court had constituted a TEC, which in its final report in 2013 recommended a complete ban on HT crops in India, particularly in crops for which India is a centre of origin or genetic diversity, such as rice and mustard.
“The TEC found HT crops to be environmentally unsustainable, socio-economically detrimental, and scientifically unsafe for Indian agricultural conditions,” it said.
The report also found the herbicide ‘Roundup’ and other similar agents used with HT crops to be probable carcinogens, and despite these findings, and while a plea seeking enforcement of the TEC recommendations remained pending, the Centre repeatedly assured the court that no environmental release of HT crops would be permitted.
“However, on 24.05.2024 – during the period when judgment was reserved – the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, proceeded to announce and effectuate the commercial release of HT Basmati rice varieties (RobiNOweed) in clear defiance of the assurances tendered before this Hon’ble Court,” it said.
“More recently, on May 04, 2025, DRR Rice 100 (Kamla) and Pusa DST Rice 1, which are also genome-edited rice, have been released by none less than the Minister for Agriculture,” it said.
This act of releasing Herbicide Tolerant and genetically-edited rice constitutes a blatant and deliberate contempt of the judicial process and is also in direct contravention of the judgment subsequently delivered by this court on July 23, 2024, it said.
“The said judgment directed the Union of India to first evolve a comprehensive national policy on GM crops through a consultative process involving experts, state governments, and all stakeholders, and made it clear that no such GM crop shall be released without such a policy in place,” it said.
“Initiate contempt proceedings against the respondents for wilful and deliberate disobedience of orders dated…, read with judgement dated July 23, 2024,” it said.
On July 23, 2024, the top court delivered a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decision granting conditional approval for the environmental release of the GM mustard crop.
The apex court, however, unanimously directed that the Centre needs to formulate a national policy with regard to GM crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce in the country.
