[Ip-health] [Business Standard] Scrap panel on patents: CPM to govt

[Achal Prabhala]

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      Scrap panel on patents: CPM to govt

      BS Reporters / New Delhi February 23, 2007



      The government is under strong pressure from its Left party allies to=
 scrap the Technical Expert Group on Patent Laws headed by R A Mashelkar, f=
ormer chief of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

      The CPI (M) Politburo today said the government should reject Mashelk=
ar=92s request to re-draft the report and instead disband the group.

      Senior CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said the admissions that the repor=
t had reproduced portions of a UK-based report on patents was a "national s=
hame and embarrassment" because the entire developing world looks to India =
for intellectual leadership.

      Basu added that Mashelkar=92s offer to rewrite the report should not =
be accepted.

      =93It is for the government, especially the prime minister, to scrap =
the committee and reconstitute it. The new expert body should not include a=
nybody associated with Mashelkar committee and should comprise persons with=
 intellectual integrity and commitment to uphold the common man=92s interes=
ts," he demanded.

      CPI national secretary D Raja said the entire exercise of the Mashelk=
ar committee was to "serve the interest of multinationals".

      "This committee has sullied the image of the country. This committee =
must go. The Left parties will raise this issue in Parliament," he said.

      On its part, a stunned government is considering the options availabl=
e to it on this issue. Ajay Dua, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy=
 and Promotion, to whom Mashelkar had written requesting the withdrawal and=
 three months to write a fresh report, said the government has not yet take=
n a view on Mashelkar=92s proposal.

      Mashelkar had on Wednesday told Business Standard that he had spoken =
to Dua on the phone. =93He had agreed to my request,=94 he said.

      Amid the controversy, Novartis AG, the Swiss multinational pharmaceut=
ical company that had submitted the Mashelkar panel report in its case agai=
nst the Indian patent law at the Chennai High Court, today clarified that i=
t is merely seeking clarity on Indian patent laws.

      "We have just learned from press articles that the Mashelkar Committe=
e report was withdrawn. It would be inappropriate for us to comment on this=
 action or on any potential impact it may or may not have on the legal case=
 challenging the denial of our patent application for Glivec or section 3(d=
) of the Indian patent law=94, said Novartis managing director Ranjit Shaha=
ni.
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