JUDGMENT :

R.K. Deshpande, J.

Rule. Heard the learned counsels appearing for the parties. Both these Public Interest Litigation and Writ Petition are being disposed of finally by this common judgment.

2. In Public Interest Litigation as well as in Writ Petition, an enquiry is sought in respect of manufacturing and marketing of soil testing fertilizer recommendations without having facility of testing of two mandatory parameters of Copper and Nitrogen during the year 2014 to 2-5-2018. The further relief sought is to restrain the marketing of STFR without getting its validation at least in five different agro-climatic zones in the country. The STFR technology is developed by the respondent Nos.2 and 3-ICAR and IARI and commercialized by issuing licences to 14 companies/firms, including the petitioner-Nagarjuna Agro Chemicals in Writ Petition No.5845 of 2018.

3. The Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) is a leading institution for agricultural research, education and expansion in India with its Headquarter at New Delhi and functions under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. The Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) is a premier national institute for agricultural research, education and expansion and is also a deemed University under the provisions of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and awards Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in various agricultural disciplines. It is a research wing/unit of ICAR, instrumental in developing several technologies, missions, tools, high yield variety of major crops and promoting agricultural mechanism in the industry. ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal, is also one of the constituent units of ICAR and a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, engaged in the development of devices and method for measurement of soil health parameters and fertilizer recommendations.

4. In the scheme of Soil Health Management (SHM) of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), the Department of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, has established soil testing projects at village level. The financial assistance is provided to a village entrepreneur (18-40 age group/Self-help Group (SHG)/Farmers Joint Liability Groups/Farmers Co-operative Societies/Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs)/Retail Outlets, set up by fertilizer companies/Retailers of Fertilizer Companies/Schools/Colleges, located in the district to establish a soil testing lab along with other accessories). The financial assistance for the group is provided at the rate of 80%, and for an individual at the rate of 40% of the project cost of Rs.10,00,000/-.

5. The SHM is one of the most important interventions under the NMSA and it is aimed at promoting location as well as crop specific sustainable SHM, creating and linking soil fertility maps with macro-micro nutrient management/judicious applications for fertilizer and organic farming sciences. The object is to improve soil quality and profitability of farmers, employment generation for rural youths, to improve timeliness in analysis of soil samples, introduction of the single window approach from collection to issue of Soil Health Card (SHC) so as to minimize tools and maximize convenience to farmers, online delivery of Soil Health Cards to farmers using soil health card portal and to provide soil testing facilities to farmers at their doorstep. Under this scheme, a subsidy is shared between the Government of India and the States in the ratio of 60 : 40.

6. The ICAR, IARI has developed the technology of PUSA-STFR Meter for all soil testings (PUSA is the lab and STFR means Soil Testing and Fertilizers Recommendation). The Soil Health Card (SHC) is a printed report that a farmer will be handed over for each of his holdings. It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters as under :

1. pH

2. EC

3. Organic Carbon (OC)

4. Available Nitrogen (N)

5. A