Senior counsel C S Vaidyanathan, who appeared for the Telangana government, said that though Monsanto was charging only Rs 23 as royalty per pack of BT cotton seeds, its 50-50 Indian partner, Mahyco, and several seed manufacturers, were fleecing farmers by collecting Rs 1,250 per pack as a ‘royalty.’ The government had previously fixed Rs 50 as the maximum royalty allowed per seed pack.
Monsanto apparently had no right to collect any royalties though, since, according to Vaidyanathan, Monsanto does not possess a patent for BT1 cotton seed varieties, and only owns a patent for the BT2 variety. The company has been collecting royalties for both.
Senior counsel for Monsanto, Abhishek Singhwi said that the bench was ‘shedding crocodile tears’ for farmers.
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