The court clarified the obligation of entities to provide information on biological resources obtained within a specific territorial boundary and the absence of compulsion to provide information on resources obtained from outside that boundary.

U.C. Dhyani, J.

1. Since the factual matrix of the above noted writ petitions and the law governing the field is the same, therefore, all the writ petitions are being decided together for the sake of brevity and convenience.

2. By means of present writ petitions, the petitioners seek following reliefs, among others:-

“(a) Issue a writ of declaration coupled with writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring that the Guidelines on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Benefit Sharing Regulations, 2014 are applicable only to transactions involving non-Indian entities and do not apply to Indian entities who are not trading any biological resources with non-Indian entities or applying for intellectual property rights.

(b) Issue a writ of declaration or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, declaring that the activities undertaken by the petitioner company under the definition of ‘commercial utilization’ as contained in Section 2(f) of the Act.

(c) Issue a writ of declaration or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, declaring that waste paper is not covered under the definition of ‘biological resources’ as contained in Section 2(c) of the Act but is covered under the definition of ‘value added products’ as contained in Section 2(p) of the Act.

(d) Issue a writ of declaration coupled with writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring the attempt of the respondent no.2 to usurp the jurisdiction vested in State Biodiversity Board of other States into itself pursuant to Section 7 and 24 of the Act, 2002 to be unconstitutional.

(e) Issue a writ of declaration coupled with writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring that Section 24(1) of the Act cannot be enforced by respondent no.2 in the absence of the Rules framed by respondent no.1 in terms of Section 63 of the Act and Section 2(k) of the Act.

(f) Issue a writ of declaration coupled with writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring the present notices dated 25.02.2016, 18.04.2016 and 05.05.2016 issued pursuant to Section 7 and 24(1) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which contains Form-I of the Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 and Form A of Guide-liens on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Benefits Sharing Regulations, 2014 to be unconstitutional and accordingly quash the same.

(g) To issue a writ of declaration coupled with writ of certiorari of any other appropriate writ, order or direction, declaring the notices dated 25.02.2016, 18.04.2016 and 05.05.2016 as wholly without jurisdiction for the reasons stated in the writ petition and quash the same as well as any other future notices of similar nature.

(h) Issue a writ of prohibition or any other appropriate writ, order or any penal action in terms of notices dated 25.02.2016, 18.04.2016 and 05.05.2016 under the provisions of Section 55(2) of the Act, including any future notices of similar nature or from taking any coercive action in the said regard.

(i) Ad-interim ex-parte order staying the impugned notices and to confirm the same till the hearing and disposal of the present writ petition.

(j) Pass such other and further orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case.”

3. After arguing at great length and with the persuasion of this Court, learned counsel for the petitioners confined his prayer only to the extent of point no. (g) & (h) of the prayer clause.

4. Writ Petition No.1425 of 2015 (M/S) shall be the leading case.

5. The basic facts giving rise to the writ petitions are that the petitioners’ companies are primarily engaged in the manufacture of different types of papers by using bagasse, rice husk, waste paper and wheat waste as raw materials. It is the specific case of the petitioners that large quantities of raw material are obtained by the petitioners from the Stat