IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 6004-6018  OF 2008 (Arising out of S.L.P.(C) Nos.1323-1337/2008)

Natco Pharma Limited ...Appellant(s)

Versus

Union of India & Ors. ...Respondent(s)

O R D E R

Leave granted.

A  piquant  situation  has  arisen  in  this  case  on  account  of  absence  of

Technical Member in the Intellectual Property Appellant Board (IPAB) constituted

under the provisions of Section 116 of the Patents Act, 1970.

On 2nd April,  2007, Central Government appointed S.Chandrasekaran as

Technical  Member (Patent) of IPAB vide notification of  even date.   On 3rd April,

2007,  notification was  issued  notifying  2nd April,  2007 as  the  date  for  transfer  of

appeals pending before any High Court to IPAB.  The appeals were transferred to

the IPAB by the High Court vide its order dated 4th April, 2007.

On  16th June,  2007,  Misc.  Petition  Nos.1  and  2  of  2007  were  filed  by

respondent  No.4  herein  before  IPAB  praying  for  the  appointment  of  another

Technical  Member  in  place  of  S.Chandrasekaran  on  the  ground  that  the  said

Member had earlier filed an affidavit in the matter taking a particular position in the

dispute which has a direct bearing on the case in hand.

It  is  under  these  peculiar  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  case  and,

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particularly,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  controversy  involved  before  IPAB  is

concerning  crystal  modification  of  a  N-Phenyl-2-Pyrimidineamine  derivative  and

since the dispute is regarding patentability of the process as well as the product that

we are of the view that such complicated disputes need to be resolved by IPAB which

must have a Technical Member in it.

In the above facts and circumstances of this case only and without making

our order a precedent for future cases, we called for a panel/list of Controllers duly

qualified  under  Section  116  of  the  Patents  Act,  as  amended  by  the  Patents

(Amendment) Act, 2006.

From  that  list  submitted  to  us,  we  have  opted  for  the  name  of

Dr.P.C.Chakraborti,  Deputy  Controller  of  Patents  &  Designs,  who  holds  post-

graduate degree of M.Sc.(Chemistry) as well as Ph.D.   

We,  accordingly,  direct  that  all  preliminaries  will  be  completed  by  the

parties in the month of October, 2008 and the IPAB duly reconstituted under our

orders,  which  would  include  Dr.  P.C.Chakraborti,  would  hear  and  decide  the

pending Appeal  Nos.TA/001/2007/PT/CH to TA/005/2007/PT/CH preferably in the

month of November, 2008.  We direct the IPAB to list the above Appeals before it for

directions on 3rd November, 2008.  The matter will be heard and disposed of on day-

to-day basis.

As a special case, Dr.P.C.Chakraborti will continue to be the Member of the

said Board till  the hearing and final  disposal  of the said appeals.   He will  be the

Member  of  the  IPAB  only  for  the  said  Appeals.   He  will  be  paid  remuneration

payable to the Technical Member of IPAB, namely, salary of  Rs.86,286/- per month

with other perquisites as mentioned in the annexure to this order.  This annexure has

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been given to us by the Union of India.  It is also made clear that Dr.P.C.Chakraborti,

who is presently Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs,  will  not be entitled to

draw  his  salary  for  the  aforestated  period  as  Deputy  Controller  of  Patents  and

Designs but, he would be entitled to protection of his seniority and other incidental

benefits.

We hope that the Board would preferably dispose of the Appeals within one

month, if possible, from the date of the commencement of hearing.

Both  sides  have  accepted  the  name  of  Dr.P.C.Chakraborti  to  act  as

Technical Member in the above Appeals.

Civil Appeals are disposed  of  accordingly,  with no

order as to costs.

                         ...................J.               (S.H. KAPADIA)

                        ...................J.

                                       (B. SUDERSHAN REDDY) New Delhi, October 01, 2008.

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ITEM NO.1                COURT NO.5               SECTION XII

           S U P R E M E   C O U R T   O F   I N D I A                          RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS                      Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).1323-1337/2008

(From the judgement and order dated 13/11/2007 in WP Nos. 26676 to 26680 of 2007 & MP Nos.1 & 2 of 2007 of the HIGH COURT OF MADRAS)

NATCO PHARMA LIMITED                                 Petitioner(s)                       VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                Respondent(s)

(With prayer for interim relief and office report)

Date: 01/10/2008  These Petitions were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.H. KAPADIA         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE B. SUDERSHAN REDDY

For Petitioner(s) Ms. Rajeshwari Hariharan, Adv. Mr. S. Hariharan, Adv.

For Respondent(s) No.4: Mr. Shanti Bhushan, Sr.Adv.

Ms. Arpita Sawhney, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sukhdev, Adv.

                    Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Adv.

R.Nos.1-3: Mr. B.S. Chahar, Sr.Adv. Mrs. Anita Sahani, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Adv.

                    Mr. D.S. Mahra, Adv.

R.No.8:              Ms. Rukhsana Choudhury, Adv. Ms. S. Pratibha, Adv. Ms. Sivangi Roy, Adv.

          UPON hearing counsel the Court made the following                                O R D E R  

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Leave granted.

Civil Appeal are disposed of with no order as to costs, in terms of the

signed order.

         (N. ANNAPURNA)       (VIJAY DHAWAN)         COURT MASTER     COURT MASTER

(Signed order is placed on file)

Note:  Copy of the order be given by Friday.

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