In view of the plea for permitting the export of endosulfan pesticide, the production and sale of which was banned by the Supreme Court after the reports on its serious effect on human health and environment, the top court on Friday sought clarification from the monitoring panel on certain aspects,
including international conventions before their demand could be considered.
A committee set up by the top court earlier to examine the adverse effect of endosulfan, was directed by a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia to furnish details on four aspects within three weeks to enable it to take any decision on the plea of the manufacturers.
The manufacturers pleaded that since a lot of stock was piled with them after the ban order, they be permitted to export to the countries where there was no prohibition and the pesticide was still being used.
In the four-point query, the top court demanded details about the total quantity of stock accumulated with manufacturing companies, what were the actual export orders pending with them, which were the countries placing the demand and were those in consonance with the international conventions and the condition of exports and finally what steps the government should take to dispose off the remaining stock beyond the export orders.
“At what stage could the material/product be destroyed? And while deciding these questions on the disposal of the manufactured quantity of endosulfan, the committee would keep in mind the environmental norms, whether destruction of the balance quantity will result in ecological degradation,” the Supreme Court order said.