Dr.P.L.Gautam, newly appointed Chairperson of PPV&FR Authority

Our readers might know that Dr. S. Nagarajan was appointed as first Hon’ble Chairperson of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA). The Hon’ble Chairperson was appointed to fulfill the mandate of established authority under the PPV&FR Act, 2001.He has given momentum to the registration and various processes related to plant variety protection in India. Under the valuable guidance of Hon’ble Chairperson, Authority has organized various National Consultative seminars (here), Advocacy program, Workshop, Review meetings (here). In his tenure the registration process started and certificates were rewarded to the respective person or organizations for many crops. It is evidently clear that his tenure was very successful and India’s Plant Variety Protection regime received a good initiation.

As earlier (here), Government of India (GOI) invited applications for the post of Chairperson of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), New Delhi. We have posted earlier (here) about the notification, manner of selection, tenure and role of Chairperson.

We are glad to inform you that one of the eminent scientist, Dr. P. L. Gautam (profile here) has been appointed as new Chairperson of the Authority.

He has provided his services as (i) Chairman of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India since December 31, 2008.(ii) Deputy Director General of Crop Science Division of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) (iii) Vice- Chancellor, GBPU&AT, Pantnagar (iv) Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR, ICAR). He has hold various other responsible position and extended his expertise support.

We are still waiting to receive the official notice in Plant Variety Journal (PVJ). But, the authority has updated the name of Dr. P. L. Gautam as Chairperson in its website (here). Subsequently, NBA has issued fresh notification (here) to fill the position vacated by Dr. P. L. Gautam.

We hope that more transparency will come in various procedures being followed before the Authority and by the authority. Plant Variety Protection will facilitate the growth of seed industry in the country which will ensure the availability of high quality seeds and planting material to farmers. We wish his tenure will extend support to Indian farmer, private and public seed sector.

For any clarification, if required then please contact to;
Onkar Singh,
onkarsingh.naarm@gmail.com
9573602808