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Govt tables patents bill in Rajya Sabha amid uproar, not to refer it to joint panel

The Bharatiya Janata Party which does not enjoy majority in the Rajya Sabha, has been forced to toe the line of the Opposition Congress party and drop the idea of referring the Patents (Amendment) Bill 1998 to a joint select committee.

Instead the bill will be passed during the current session.

This turnaround arose after a meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of the Rajya Sabha and Industries Minister Sikandhar Bakht and leader of the Opposition Manmohan Singh on Wednesday afternoon.

Dr Singh informed the government that his party had already issued a whip in this connection. Hence the Congress would like to see that the bill is passed during this session itself, he insisted.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana later told the media that since the government cannot get the bill passed without the help of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, it has been decided to pass it during the winter session.

The Business Advisory Committee will fix a date for passage of the bill, he explained.

Earlier during the day, Khurana had said that there was ''unanimity'' about the bill being referred to the joint select committee among the BJP members of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha.

That decision was arrived at based on the Congress's earlier stand that the bill be referred to joint select committee.

''Since the Congress has now changed its stance, we have agreed to introduce and get the bill passed during the current session,'' Khurana added.

When the time constraint was pointed out, Khurana said he was in touch with Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi to either extend the session or allow it to sit late into the night to get the pending bills passed.

The BJP will also issue whip to its members to ensure their presence and voting in favour of the bill, he added.

The government on Wednesday introduced the Patents (Amendment) Bill, 1998, seeking to grant exclusive marketing rights in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals in the Rajya Sabha amid vociferous protests by the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and some splinter groups.

The protestors who rushed to the well of the House and defied all directives by the chair to return to their seats forced adjournment of the House an hour before the scheduled time.

They said the bill was an infringement on the rights of the state governments.

They wanted that the government should convene either a meeting of chief ministers or the National Development Council to discuss the bill.

They even contested that the House was not competent to consider the bill. The chair, however, rejected their arguments.

The chair directed Industry Minister Sikandar Bakht to introduce the bill. As he rose, members swung into action.

Bakht however introduced the bill amid uproar and soon after the House was adjourned for the day.

Earlier, Pranab Mukherjee of the Congress which came out in full support of the bill, urged the chair that only those members who had given their notice before 1000 hours today should be allowed to speak on the subject.

The EMRs aspect has been the bone of contention as opponents say that this would wipe out the domestic industry by imports.

The legislation will enable India to fulfil its obligations under Articles 70.8 and 70.9 of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement.

Following are the salient features of the bill:

The bill proposes to provide grant EMRs in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals.

The bill also provides a means to provide a mailbox for receipt of patent applications in the above fields.

The grant of EMRs will be subject to certain conditions such as filing of product patent applications. Obtaining the patents (for inventions made in India, the process patents) and obtaining the marketing approvals in one of the member countries of the World Trade Organisation (in India termed as "convention countries").

The applicants for EMRs in India will also have to file the product patent applications and also obtain the marketing approval for the inventions from the appropriate authority. The applicant can then make applications to the controller of patents for grant of EMRs.

The EMRs will be valid for a period of five years or till the patent application is rejected or granted, whichever is shorter.

The bill also contains provisions relating to public non-commercial use, price fixation and compulsory licensing of EMRs. These provisions are without prejudice to the existing laws on consumer protection.

Regarding provisions to ensure national security in the case of fissionable material, traffic in arms and ammunitions and implements of wars, etc, the bill provides that the government can take any action including revocation of patent and one can force the government to disclose any information relating to any patentable invention which it considers prejudicial to the interest of security of India.

UNI

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