HC upholds the imposition of BIS norms on the plastic industry.
If a product under the ‘Made in India’ programme is sought to be exported with the ‘Made in India’ tag, quality insistence from the threshold would ensure the final product meets the necessary global standards, the Karnataka high court said in a recent order.
Dismissing a petition filed by the All-India HDPE PP Woven Fabric Manufacturers Association challenging certain quality standards prescribed for plastic manufacturers by the Centre, Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that the country will be able to compete with others only if quality is ensured right from the word go till the finished product under ‘Make in India’ programme.
“A step towards that will not be interfered with by this court except if the step depicts palpable and demonstrable arbitrariness, which is neither pleaded nor present,” the judge said, adding: “Except contending cartelization and nexus, no other submission has been made. These submissions are untenable.”
“Quality control in plastic manufacturing always refers to the process of monitoring and inspecting various stages of manufacturing to ensure that the final plastic products meet certain standards of quality. Therefore, every raw material that is sought to be brought under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is only to make it a quality final plastic product, so that it would not become hazardous to the environment and be of use to the general public and meet health and safety standards, including food conduct regulations, as they are widely used in every walk of human life,” the judge added.
The April 15, 2021 notification said that quality control should conform to the corresponding Indian standard and bear the standard mark under a licence from the BIS as per Schedule and Schedule II of the Bureau of Indian (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018. The September 26, 2023 notification directed that the earlier notification which imposed quality standards would come into effect on January 5, 2024.
The petitioner had claimed that the imposition of such a clause on the supply of raw free movement and sale of the said raw materials would create a monopoly in the hands of a few in the industry. On the other hand, deputy solicitor-general of India HShanthi Bhushan, appearing for the central government and Competition Commission of India, described as false the petitioner’s allegation that there is only one player in the market.
Justice Nagaprasanna pointed out that the impugned notifications sought to achieve a seal of Bureau of Indian Standard (‘BIS seal’) on every raw material that is brought into the manufacture of a final product.
“The BIS, as observed hereinabove, is a national standards body which permits the development, standardization and quality certification of goods and the certification will be through BIS standard mark. If this is sought to be achieved by the Union of India, through the notification as a policy decision, the high court exercising its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India would be loathe to interfere with such a policy decision of the government, particularly of economic and quality standards,” the judge further observed while rejecting the petition.
