Inauguration of PPV&FR Authority Branch Offices

At Shivamogga, Pune and Palampur

The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) with the support from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare established three branch offices this year (Gazette Notification No. S.O. 182 dated January 19, 2017) under the leadership of Prof. R.R.Hanchinal (Chairperson, PPV&FRA) and Dr.R.C.Agrawal (Registrar General, PPV&FRA). In the year 2012, two branch offices were established at Ranchi covering the territorial region of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and Guwahati covering the states of Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh (Gazette Notification No. 929 dated April 27, 2012).

The Head Office at New Delhi along with the five branch offices at different locations in India intend to achieve the Authority’s objectives of promoting protection of plant varieties, conservation of plant genome resources, recognize and protect the rights of the farmers, encourage the development of new varieties of plants, protect plant breeders’ rights and facilitate the growth of seed industry. As PPV&FRA is also a quasi-judicial authority, its branch offices will also receive complaints from their territorial regions on violations of the rights of breeders and farmers.

On 03 May 2017, Shri.B.S.Yeddyurappa (MP and Former Chief Minister of Karnataka) along with Shri.Y.B.Raghavendra, Dr.Vasudevappa (Vice-Chancellor, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, UAHS, Shivamogga, Karnataka) inaugurated the branch office within the premises of UAHS, Shivamogga. This office would function as the nodal center for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

On 20 May 2017, Dr.S.K.Pattanayak (Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare, DOAC&FW) inaugurated the branch office at Pune, Maharashtra in the presence of Dr.RamKharche (Vice-Chancellor, Maharashtra Council of Agricultural Education and Research, Pune) and Dr.K.P.Vishwanatha (Vice-Chancellor, MPKVV, Rahuri). The branch office is established in the premises of College of Agriculture Campus, Mahatma Phule Krishi VishwaVidyalaya (MPKVV). This branch would cover the territorial region of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.

The branch office at Palampur was inaugurated by Dr.S.K.Pattanayak (Secretary, DOAC&FW), Prof.Ashok Kumar Sarial (Vice-Chancellor, CSHK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishwavidyalaya), Dr.V.L.Chopra (Former DG, ICAR), Dr.P.L.Gautam (Former Chairperson, PPV&FRA) and Dr.S.K.Sharma (Former Vice-Chancellor, CSHKPKV and Former PPV&FR Authority member) on May 30, 2017. This office would cover the regions of Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Uttarakhand.