The Seeds Act, 1966

(1) This Act may be called the Seeds Act, 1966. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall came into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, andfor different States or for different areas thereof.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (1) "agriculture" includes horticulture; (2) "Central Seed Laboratory" means the Central Seed Laboratory established or declared as suchunder sub-section (1) of section 4; (3) "certification agency" means the certification agency established under section 8 orrecognised under section 18; (4) "Committee" means the Central Seed Committee constituted under sub-section (1) ofsection 3; (5) "container" means a box, bottle, gasket, tin, barrel, case, receptacle, sack, bag, wrapper orother thing in which any article or thing is placed or packed; (6) "export" means taking out of India to a place outside India; (7) "import" means bringing into India from a place outside India; (8) "kind" means one or more related species or sub-species of crop plants each individually orcollectively known by one common name such as cabbage, maize, paddy and wheat; (9) "notified kind or variety", in relation to any seed, means any kind or variety thereof notifiedunder section 5; (10) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (11) "seed" means any of the following classes of seeds used for sowing or planting-- (i) seed of food crops including edible oil seeds and seeds of fruits and vegetables; (ii) cotton seeds; (iii) seeds of cattle fodder; 2[(iv) jute seeds,]and includes seedlings, and tubers, bulbs, rhizomes, roots, cuttings, all types of grafts and othervegetatively propagated material, of food crops or cattle fodder; (12) "Seed Analyst" means a Seed Analyst appointed under section 12; (13) "Seed Inspector" means a Seed Inspector appointed under section 13; (14) "State Government" in relation to a Union Territory, means the administrator thereof; (15) "State Seed Laboratory", in relation to any State, means the State Seed Laboratoryestablished or declared as such under sub-section (2) of section 4 for that State; and (16) "variety"means a sub-division of a kind identifiable by growth, yield, plant, fruit, seed, orother characteristic.

(1) The Central Government shall, as soon as may be after thecommencement of this Act, constitute a Committee called the Central Seed Committee to advice theCentral Government and the State Governments on matters arising out of the administration of this Actand to carry out the other functions assigned to it by or under this Act. (2) The Committee shall consist of the following members, namely:-- (i) a Chairman to be nominated by the Central Government; (ii) eight persons to be nominated by the Central Government to represent such interests as thatGovernment thinks fit, of whom not less than two persons shall be representatives of growers of seed; (iii) one person to be nominated by the Government of each of the States. (3) The members of the Committee shall, unless their seals become vacant earlier by resignation,death or otherwise, be entitled to hold office for two years and shall be eligible for re-nomination. (4) The Committee may, subject to the previous approval of the Central Government, make bye-lawsfixing the quorum and regulating its own procedure and the conduct of all business to be transacted by it. (5) The Committee may appoint one or more sub-committees, consisting wholly of members of theCommittee or wholly of other persons or partly of members of the Committee and partly of other persons,as it thinks fit, for the purpose of discharging such of its functions as may be delegated to suchsub-committee or sub-committees by the Committee. (6) The functions of the Committee or any sub-committee thereof may be exercised notwithstandingany vacancy therein. (7) The Central Government shall appoint a person to be the secretary of the Committee and shallprovide the Committee with such clerical and other staff as the Central Government considers necessary.

(1) The Central Government may, bynotification in the Official Gazette, establish a Central Seed Laboratory or declare any seed laboratory asthe Central Seed Laboratory to carry out the functions entrusted to the Central Seed Laboratory by orunder this Act. (2) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, establish one or more StateSeed Laboratories or declare any seed laboratory as the State Seed Laboratory where analysis of seeds ofany notified kind or variety shall be carried out by Seed Analysts under this Act in the prescribed manner.

If the Central Government, after consultation withthe Committee, is of opinion that it is necessary or expedient to regulate the quality of seed of any kind orvariety to be sold for purposes of agriculture, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare suchkind or variety to be a notified kind or variety for the purposes of this Act and different kinds or varietiesmay be notified for different States or for different areas thereof.