Bombay HC asks Maha govt to hand over idle unit to firm to produce Covaxin

The Bombay High Court has permitted Biovet Private Limited an associate company of Bharat Biotech to take possession of a fully operational and readytouse vaccine manufacturing plant on a 12hectare plot in Pune to produce CovaxinBharat Biotech produces Covaxin a vaccine against Covid19A division bench of Justices K K Tated and N R Borkar on May 6 heard an application filed by Karnatakas Biovet Private Limited seeking direction to the Maharashtra government to hand over possession of the manufacturing unit at Manjari Khurd village in PuneThe unit was being used by Intervet India Pvt Ltd a multinational and subsidiary of Merck amp Co after land was granted to it in 1973 to manufacture vaccine for Foot and Mouth DiseaseIntervet is exiting business operations in India and entered into an agreement with Biovet to transfer the land and manufacturing unit to the latterWhen Biovet sought the governments approval for the transfer the deputy conservator of forests Pune division pointed out that it was a reserved forest and the initial 1973 grant itself was badBiovet then approached HC in challenge and in an interim application also sought direction to the government to grant it licences and permissions to enable the manufacture of vaccine for Foot Mouth Disease as well as CovaxinRD Soni appearing for Biovet argued that the unit and machinery was lying idle due to delay in handing over possession of the landHe also told the court the company would not claim any equity in respect to the land in question The company also submitted an undertaking stating it would use the unit to manufacture CovaxinAdvocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court the Maharashtra government had no objection if the company used the unit for manufacturing lifesaving vaccines including Covaxin but it should not claim any right title and interest in futureKumbhakoni further told the court if the company filed applications seeking permissions the state government shall consider the same expeditiouslyThe HC said considering the Covid19 situation the concerned authorities are directed to handover peaceful possession of the readytouse BSL3 vaccine manufacturing facilityThe respondent state government is directed to grant appropriate licencespermissionsNOCs to the applicant Biovet in a timebound manner to enable manufacture of the Food and Mouth Disease vaccine Covaxin and other life saving vaccines the HC saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever