National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees

Law of Intellectual Property and Biodiversity · Unit IV · Topic 11 of 14 · 7 min read

The three-tier structure of the Biological Diversity Act as amended in 2023: composition, powers, functions and duties of the NBA (sections 8 to 21, 50), the State Biodiversity Boards (sections 22 to 25) and the Biodiversity Management Committees (sections 41 to 47), with the funds, People's Biodiversity Registers and the NGT's directions on BMCs.

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On this page

1. The scheme of division
2. The National Biodiversity Authority: establishment and composition
3. Functions and powers of the NBA
4. State Biodiversity Boards
5. Biodiversity Management Committees
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. “Discuss the composition, powers and functions of the National Biodiversity Authority” is the most predictable question in Unit IV; the same for SBBs and BMCs appears as a long question or short note. Give composition as amended in 2023, then functions, then the division of work between the three tiers.

1. The scheme of division

Tier	Regulates	Key sections
NBA (national)	Access by foreign persons and foreign-controlled companies (s.3); transfer of research results to them (s.4); IP based on Indian resources (s.6); State functions for Union territories	8–21, 27–30, 48, 50
SBB (State)	Commercial utilisation by Indian persons and entities, through prior intimation (s.7, s.24)	22–25, 31–35, 49
BMC (local body)	Conservation, documentation, consultation, collection fees, certificates of origin	7(2)–(3), 41–47

2. The National Biodiversity Authority: establishment and composition

Section 8 establishes the NBA as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal. Its head office is at Chennai, and the Central Government may establish regional offices elsewhere (section 8(3), as substituted in 2023). Under section 8(4) as amended, it consists of:

a Chairperson, an eminent person with knowledge, expertise and experience in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and in fair and equitable benefit sharing, appointed by the Central Government;
sixteen ex officio members representing Central Ministries dealing with agricultural research and education; agriculture and farmers welfare; AYUSH; biotechnology; environment and climate change; forests and wildlife; the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education; earth sciences; Panchayati Raj; science and technology; scientific and industrial research; and tribal affairs;
four representatives of State Biodiversity Boards, by rotation;
five non-official members from experts, including legal experts and scientists, representatives of industry, and conservers, creators and knowledge-holders of biological resources; and
a Member-Secretary with experience in biodiversity conservation, appointed by the Central Government.

Before 2023 the Authority had ten ex officio members and no SBB representation. Section 9 leaves conditions of service to rules; the Chairperson is the chief executive (section 10); the Member-Secretary, inserted by section 10A, is the chief coordinating officer and convener and assists the Authority. Section 11 lists grounds of removal (insolvency, conviction involving moral turpitude, incapacity, abuse of position, conflicting interest). Section 12 governs meetings, majority voting and the casting vote, and disclosure of interest. Section 13 allows a committee on agro-biodiversity and other committees, which may co-opt non-voting experts. Section 16 allows delegation, now including to the Member-Secretary. Expenses are met from the Consolidated Fund of India (section 17).

3. Functions and powers of the NBA

Section 18, as amended:

make regulations, with Central Government approval, for access to biological resources and associated TK and for determining fair and equitable benefit sharing (18(1)); the ABS Regulations of 2025 are made under this power;
regulate activities under sections 3, 4 and 6 by granting or rejecting approvals (18(2));
advise the Central Government on conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing; advise State Governments on selection and management of biodiversity heritage sites; advise SBBs on implementation (18(3));
take measures on behalf of the Central Government to oppose the grant of IP rights abroad on any biological resource found in or brought from India, including those deposited in repositories outside India, or associated TK (18(4)).

Other powers and duties: deciding applications under sections 19 and 20, determining benefit sharing under section 21, placing every approval or rejection in the public domain (sections 19(4), 20(4)), acting as SBB for Union territories (section 22(2)), adjudicating disputes between SBBs referred by the Central Government with the powers of a civil court (section 50), administering the National Biodiversity Fund (section 27), and monitoring the use in India of resources obtained from foreign countries when authorised under section 36A (the Nagoya user-country obligation). The NBA is bound by the Central Government’s written directions on questions of policy (section 48).

Opposition abroad in practice. India’s main practical tool has been the CSIR’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, whose third-party submissions at foreign patent offices have led to many applications based on Indian TK being withdrawn or narrowed; section 18(4) gives the NBA the legal mandate to take up such cases itself.

4. State Biodiversity Boards

Establishment (section 22). Each State Government establishes a Board, a body corporate. No SBB is constituted for a Union territory; the NBA performs those functions and may delegate them to a person, group of persons or body specified by the Central Government (section 22(2) as amended). The Karnataka Biodiversity Board is constituted under this section.

Composition (section 22(4), as amended). A Chairperson with the same qualifications as the NBA Chairperson; not more than seven ex officio members representing State departments, including those dealing with Panchayati Raj and tribal affairs; and not more than five non-official experts, including legal experts and scientists. Sections 9 to 17 (conditions of service, meetings, committees, officers, delegation) apply to the Board with modifications (section 25).

Functions (section 23, as amended).

advise the State Government on conservation, sustainable use and fair and equitable benefit sharing, in conformity with Central and NBA regulations or guidelines;
regulate any activity referred to in section 7 by granting or rejecting approvals;
determine fair and equitable benefit sharing under the NBA’s regulations while granting approvals;
other functions under the Act or prescribed by the State.

Power to restrict (section 24). An Indian person intending an activity under section 7 gives prior intimation in the form prescribed by the State. If the Board considers the activity detrimental or contrary to conservation, sustainable use or benefit sharing, it may by order restrict or reject it, after a hearing, and must place approvals and rejections in the public domain. The SBB is bound by State policy directions (section 49). The State Biodiversity Fund (section 32) receives grants and benefit-sharing amounts and is used for channelling benefits to benefit claimers, conservation, the socio-economic development of areas from where resources were accessed (in consultation with the BMC), and grants to BMCs.

5. Biodiversity Management Committees

Constitution (section 41(1), as substituted in 2023). Every local body at the Gram Panchayat level in rural areas, and at the Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Committee or Municipal Corporation level in urban areas, shall constitute a BMC within its area. The State Government may also constitute BMCs at the intermediate or district panchayat level. Membership is between seven and eleven, as prescribed by the State (section 41(1B)).

Functions.

promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biodiversity, including habitats, landraces, folk varieties, farmers’ varieties, cultivars, domesticated breeds, life in water bodies and micro-organisms, and chronicling TK (section 41(1), (1A));
preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) under the rules, which record local resources, their uses and associated knowledge and serve as evidence of prior knowledge and of who the benefit claimers are;
being consulted by the NBA and SBBs on any decision relating to the use of biological resources and TK in their jurisdiction (section 41(2));
levying collection fees for accessing or collecting biological resources for commercial purposes from their area (section 41(3));
issuing certificates of origin for cultivated medicinal plants, without which the section 7 exemption is not available (section 7(2)–(3));
being a party to mutually agreed terms for benefit sharing, represented by the NBA (section 21(1)).

Local Biodiversity Fund (sections 42–46). Constituted in every notified area and credited with grants, NBA and SBB grants, collection fees and benefit-sharing amounts. It is used for conservation and restoration in the local body’s area, socio-economic development of the community without compromising conservation, and the BMC’s administrative expenses. The BMC prepares an annual statement and audited accounts for the local body and the SBB.

Implementation and the NGT. For years most local bodies had not constituted BMCs or prepared PBRs, so the consultation and benefit-sharing provisions had no one to work through. In Chandra Bhal Singh v. Union of India (National Green Tribunal, 2016 onwards) the Tribunal directed States to constitute BMCs and prepare PBRs within deadlines, and warned of costs for default. BMCs were then constituted on a large scale, though critics report that many PBRs were prepared hastily and many BMCs exist mostly on paper. The deeper criticism is structural: BMCs are consulted but have no veto over access, and since 2023 the NBA represents them in negotiating benefit sharing.

How this is examined

Likely long questions. “Discuss the composition, powers and functions of the National Biodiversity Authority under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.” “Examine the role of State Biodiversity Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees in the regulation of access to biological resources.”

Likely short notes. People’s Biodiversity Register; Local Biodiversity Fund; section 18(4); Member-Secretary of the NBA; collection fees under section 41(3); certificate of origin.