PPV&FR Act: Authority, Registry, Appeals, Transfer of Rights and Powers of Governments

1. Transfer of rights

Unlike the Trade Marks Act or the Semiconductor Layout-Design Act, the PPV&FR Act has no chapter on assignment and transmission. The rules are spread across the Act:

• Right to apply. An application may be made by the breeder, his successor, or the assignee of the breeder “in respect of the right to make such application” (section 16(1)(a) to (c)). Where the application is made by virtue of succession or assignment, proof of the right must be furnished (section 18(3)).
• Holders of the right. The certificate confers the exclusive right on “the breeder or his successor, his agent or licensee” (section 28(1)). Succession (transmission on death or by operation of law) is thus expressly recognised.
• Authorisation (licence). The breeder may authorise any person to produce, sell, market or otherwise deal with the variety (section 28(2)). The agent or licensee registers his title with the Registrar, but cannot further transfer the right (section 28(8)). See the licences note.
• Compulsory licences (sections 47 to 53) transfer a right to produce and sell without the breeder’s consent.
• Transmission in proceedings (section 80): if a party dies while a proceeding before the Authority or Registrar is pending, his successor may be substituted on proof of the transmission of interest.
• Recording changes. Changes in the breeder’s name, address or description are entered by correction under section 37.

The Act does not lay down a procedure for recording an outright assignment of a registered variety, so an assignee relies on the general law of contract and property for the transfer and on the Registrar for the entry. This is a gap a student can point out when asked to evaluate the Act.

2. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority

Constitution (section 3)

• Established by the Central Government; a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal (section 3(1), (2)).
• A Chairperson and fifteen members (section 3(4)). The Chairperson must be a person of outstanding calibre with long practical experience, especially in plant varietal research or agricultural development.
• The members: eight ex officio officials (the Agriculture Commissioner; the Deputy Director General in charge of Crop Sciences, ICAR; the Joint Secretary in charge of Seeds; the Horticulture Commissioner; the Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources; and representatives of the Department of Biotechnology, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Ministry of Law); one representative each of a farmers’ organisation, a tribal organisation, the seed industry, an agricultural university and a women’s organisation in agriculture; and two representatives of State Governments by rotation.
• The Registrar-General is the ex officio member-secretary.
• A Standing Committee of five members, one of them from a farmers’ organisation, advises on all issues including farmers’ rights (section 3(7)).

Functions and powers

Section 8(1) states the general duty: to promote the development of new varieties and to protect the rights of farmers and breeders. Section 8(2) lists the measures: registration of extant varieties; characterisation and documentation of registered varieties; documentation, indexing and cataloguing of farmers’ varieties; compulsory cataloguing facilities for all plant varieties; ensuring that seed of registered varieties is available to farmers, including through compulsory licensing; collecting statistics; and maintaining the Register. Elsewhere the Act gives the Authority its main adjudicatory work: benefit-sharing claims (section 26), EDV registration (section 23), revocation (section 34), annual fees and forfeiture (section 35), farmers’ compensation for failed seed (section 39(2)), community claims (section 41) and compulsory licences (section 47).

• The Authority and the Registrar have the powers of a civil court to receive evidence, enforce attendance, compel discovery and issue commissions, and may award costs executable as a decree (section 11).
• Civil courts have no jurisdiction over matters the Authority or Registrar is empowered to determine (section 89).
• The Authority makes regulations (section 95), has its own fund (section 61), and its annual report is laid before Parliament (section 85).

3. The Registry and the National Register

• The Plant Varieties Registry is established by the Central Government, with its head office in the head office of the Authority and branch offices as the Authority decides (section 12(1), (2)).
• The Authority appoints the Registrar-General and such Registrars as it thinks necessary, who work under the Registrar-General’s superintendence (section 12(3), (4)).
• The National Register of Plant Varieties (section 13) records every registered variety, its breeder, the breeder’s rights, the denomination, the seed or propagating material and its salient features. It is kept under the control of the Authority, subject to the superintendence of the Central Government, with copies at branch offices.
• The Registrar handles applications, examination, advertisement and opposition (sections 14 to 24), registration of agents and licensees (section 28), surrender (section 33), rectification and correction (sections 36 and 37).

4. The appellate forum

As enacted, the Act provided for a Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal (section 54) of judicial and technical members (section 55). Section 59 said that until the Tribunal was set up, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board would exercise its jurisdiction, with a technical member appointed under the PPV&FR Act. The Tribunal itself was never established.

The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, with effect from 4 April 2021, omitted sections 54, 55, 58 and 59 and substituted the High Court. Under section 56 an appeal lies to the High Court, within the period prescribed by the High Court’s rules, against an order or decision of:

• the Authority or Registrar relating to registration of a variety;
• the Registrar relating to registration as agent or licensee;
• the Authority on a benefit-sharing claim;
• the Authority on revocation or modification of a compulsory licence; or
• the Authority on payment of compensation.

Under section 57 the High Court hears both parties, may amend its order within thirty days to correct a mistake apparent from the record, should where possible decide the appeal within one year, and sends a copy of its order to the Registrar. Farmers and communities pay no fees before the Authority, Registrar or High Court (section 44).

5. Powers of the Central Government

• Establishing the Authority and Registry, and appointing the Chairperson and members (sections 3 and 12).
• Notifying the genera and species eligible for registration, and deleting them only in the public interest (section 29(2), (4)).
• Constituting the National Gene Fund (section 45) and framing schemes for benefit sharing and community claims (section 46).
• Approving the annual fee the Authority may impose on breeders, agents and licensees (section 35(1)).
• Convention countries and reciprocity (sections 31 and 32).
• Grants and loans to the Authority (section 60).
• Directions to the Authority in the public interest (section 93).
• Removal of difficulties within two years of commencement (section 94) and rule-making (section 96).
• Deemed ownership of extant varieties notified under the Seeds Act, unless a breeder establishes his right (proviso to section 28(1)).

6. Powers and role of the State Governments

• Deemed ownership of an extant variety notified under section 5 of the Seeds Act for a State or an area in it (proviso to section 28(1)).
• Two State Government representatives sit on the Authority by rotation (section 3(5)(b)(xiv)).
• State agricultural universities and institutions apply as breeders (section 16(1)(f)) and run DUS test centres.
• Agriculture is a State subject (Entry 14, List II of the Seventh Schedule), and seed quality enforcement under the Seeds Act (certification agencies, seed laboratories, inspectors) rests largely with the States.

The State role under the PPV&FR Act itself is small. Critics argue that a farmer-oriented law depends on State machinery for its delivery (awareness of farmers’ rights, registration of farmers’ varieties, compensation claims), and that the Act gives the States too little part in it.

How this is examined

A short note on the “PPV&FR Authority” needs section 3 (composition), section 8 (functions) and the adjudicatory powers. On the “Appellate Tribunal”, state the original scheme, the IPAB stopgap in section 59, and the 2021 shift to the High Court with the list in section 56. For “powers of the Central and State Governments”, use the two lists. A question on assignment and transmission should be answered from section 1, pointing out the gap in the Act.