The Central Seed Certification Board “8A. (1) The Central Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, establish a Central Seed Certification Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board) to advise the Central Government and the State Governments on all matters relating to certification and to co-ordinate the functioning of the agencies established under section 8.
(2) The Board shall consist of the following members, namely:-
(i) a Chairman, to be nominated by the Central Government;
(ii) four members, to be nominated by the Central Government from out of the persons employed by the State Governments as Directors of Agriculture;
(iii) three members, to be nominated by the Central Government from out of the persons employed by the Agricultural Universities as Directors of Research;
(iv) thirteen persons, to be nominated by the Central Government to represent such interests as that Government thinks fit, of whom not less than four persons shall be representatives of seed producers or tradesmen.
(3) A member of the Board shall, unless his seat becomes vacant earlier by resignation or otherwise, be entitled to hold office for two years from the date of his nomination:
Provided that a person nominated under clause (ii) or clause (iii) of sub-section (2) shall hold office only for so long as he holds the appointment by virtue of which his nomination was made.
Other Committees
8B. The Board may appoint as many Committees as it deems fit consisting wholly of the members of the Board or wholly of other persons or partly of members of the Board and partly of other persons as it thinks fit to exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be delegated to them, subject to such conditions as it may think fit, by the Board.
Proceedings of Board or Committee not to be invalid by reason of any vacancy therein
8C. No proceeding of the Board or any Committee thereof shall become invalid merely by reason of the existence of any vacancy therein or any defect in the constitution thereof.
Procedure for Board
8D. The Board may, subject to the previous approval of the Central Government, make bye-laws for the purpose of regulating its own procedure and the procedure of any Committee thereof and the conduct of all business to be transacted by it or such Committee.
Secretary and other officers
8E. The Central Government shall-
(i) appoint a person to be the Secretary of the Board, and
(ii) provide the Board with such technical and other staff as the Central Government considers necessary.” Amendment of section 9
4. In section 9 of the principal Act,-
(i) in sub-section (3), for the words, brackets, letter and figure “minimum limits of germination and purity specified for that seed under clause (a) of section 6”, the words “ prescribed standards” shall be substituted;
(ii) to sub-section (3), the following proviso shall be added, namely:- “Provided that such standards shall not be lower than the minimum limits of germination and purity specified for that seed under clause (a) of section 6.” Amendment of section 25
5. In section 25 of the principal Act,-
(a) in sub-section (2), after clause (f), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:- “(ff) the standards to which seeds should conform,”;
(b) in sub-section (3), for the words “in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following”, the words “in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid” shall be substituted.
THE SEEDS RULES, 1968 under Seed Act, 1966 (Act No. 54 of 1966)
PART I - Preliminary
1. Short title. – These rules may be called the Seeds Rules, 1968.
2. Definitions. – In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) “Act” means the Seeds Act, 1966 (54 of 1966);
(b) “advertisement” means all representations other than those on the label, disseminated in any manner or by any means relating to seed for the purposes of the Act;
(c) “certification sample” means a sample of seed drawn by a certification agency or by a duly authorised representative of a certification agency established under section 8 or recognized under section 18 of the Act;
(d) “certification tag” means a tag or label of certain design to be specified by the certification agency and shall constitute the certificate granted by the certification agency;
(e) “certified seed” means seed that fulfils all requirements for certification provided by the Act and these rules and to the container of which the certification tag is attached;
(f) “certified seed producer” means a person who grow or distributes certified seed in accordance with the procedure and standards of the certification agency;
(g) “complete record” means the information which relates to the origin, variety, kind, germination and purity of seed of any notified kind or variety offered for sale, sold or otherwise supplied;
(h) “form” means a form appended to these rules;
(i) “origin” means the State, Union Territory or foreign country where the seed is grown and in case seeds of different origin are blended the label shall show the percentage of seed of each origin;
(j) “processing” means cleaning, drying, treating, grading and other operations which would change the purity and germination of the seed and thus requiring re-testing to determine the quality of the seed, but does not include operations such as packaging and labelling;
(k) “section” means a section of the Act;
(l) “service sample” means a sample submitted to the Central Seed Laboratory or to a State Seed Laboratory for testing, the results to be used as information for seeding, selling or labelling purposes;
(m) “treated” means that the seed has been subjected to an application of a substance or process in such a manner as to reduce, control or repel certain disease organisms, insects, or any other pests attacking such seeds or seedlings growing therefrom and for other purposes.
PART II – Central Seed Committee
3. Functions of the Central Seed Committee. – In addition to the functions entrusted to the Committee by the Act, the Committee shall,-
(a) recommend the rate of fees to be levied for analysis of samples by the Central and State Seed Testing Laboratories and for certification by the certification agencies;
(b) advise the Central or State Governments on the suitability of seed testing laboratories;
(c) send its recommendations and other concerning records to the Central Government;
(d) recommend the procedure and standards for certification, tests and analysis of seeds; and
(e) carry out such other functions as are supplemental, incidental or consequential to any of the functions conferred by the Act or these rules.