Madhya Pradesh plea seeking GI tag for Basmati rice dismissed

Chennai, Mar 9 () Madhya Pradesh's attempts tojoin the elite 'Basmati' league has failed once again as theMadras High court has dismissed the state's plea seekinggeographical indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice grown inareas falling under the state.

A division bench of Justices R Subbiah andC Saravanan also refused to quash an order passed by theIntellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) granting GIcertificate for basmati to Agricultural and Processed FoodProducts Export Development Authority (APEDA).

The court noted that for a same produce, two GIcertificates of registration cannot be issued and preciselythat is the reason why Madhya Pradesh has approached thecourt.

"At the same time, we have to observe that thepetitioners have an alternative and efficacious remedyavailable by filing an application to the registrar of trademark seeking to cancel or vary the GI certificate issued toAPEDA," the bench said.

The issue pertains to an order passed by IPAB on February5, 2016 granting GI certificate for basmati in APEDA's favour.

Aggrieved, Madhya Pradesh contended that such GI tagcannot be awarded to APEDA as some regions falling under MPwhich also produce Basmati has been omitted in the listprovided by APEDA.

However,the IPAB rejected its claim observing that thedocuments and evidence filed by Madhya Pradesh show theimportance, special characters of rice cultivated in the statebut not Basmati cultivation in the traditional growing area.

Challenging the rejection and the order granting GI forbasmati in favour of APEDA, Madhya Pradesh moved the presentappeal.

In May 2010, GI status was given to basmati grown onlyin Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand andparts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Madhya Pradesh moved a statutory opposition demandingthat its 13 districts be recognised as traditional basmatigrowing regions.

The 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh which have beenexcluded from the tag are Monera, Vidisha, Bhind, Raisen,Gwalior, Sehore, Sheopur, Hoshangabad, Datia, Jabalpur,Shivpuri, Narsinghpur and Guna.

According to Madhya Pradesh, these 13 districts hadbeen growing basmati for several decades and they were locatedin the Indo-Gangetic plains having climatic conditionfavourable for cultivation of basmati.

Non-inclusion of the state in the basmati growingareas would have an adverse effect on the lives of farmers whomainly depend upon basmati cultivation, it said. BN BN