NEW DELHI, March 19: Environmentalist Maneka Gandhi says that Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited misled the government while seeking permission to import 50 beagles from New York for research.Ranbaxy had written to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Delhi, seeking a no-objection certificate to import the beagles. The CWW's office replied to the company on January 6, stating: ``The laboratory bred beagle dogs from Marshall farms, USA, are not covered under any of the schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. As such, no permission is required from the office of the Chief Wildlife Warden, Delhi to import the same.''
Maneka says that Ranbaxy construed this letter as a no-objection certificate to go ahead with the imports. When she spoke to S C Sharma, Additional Inspector of General of Forests, Government of India, he reportedly asked the Ministry of Commerce to okay the imports of such animals only after verifying the situation with his department.
Maneka alleges that Ranbaxy has misled the Commerce ministry byits false claims of obtaining an NOC from the office of the CWW of Delhi. She claims that the permission can only be granted by the Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) of which she is the chairperson. The committee functions under the Union Environment Ministry.
Neel Chatterjee, Director, Corporate Affairs, Ranbaxy wrote a letter to Maneka yesterday claiming that the CCSEA was just a regulatory body and not an approving authority.
``We have received no notification or intimation either from the Environment ministry of from the Department of Science and Technology stipulating the requirement of obtaining approval from CCSEA before importing animals for research,'' states Chatterjee.
As Maneka and Ranbaxy continue to debate on the issue, including the legal status of the dogs, several animal lovers called up this newspaper office to ascertain the fate of beagles. Many were curious to know whether they could adopt some of these animals.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
