India, March 6 -- A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will begin hearing in April a clutch of petitions challenging the permission given for commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard, after the approval granted by the Centre for its environmental release ended in a split verdict by the top court in July 2024.

Setting the dates for the hearing to take place on April 15 and 16, a bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka said, "Files are too many in this case. Once we sit, we will continue and finish off the hearing. We don't want any discontinuation in the hearing of the case."

The petitions filed by NGO Gene Campaign, Research Foundation for Science Technology and activist Aruna Rodrigues, informed the court that the sp...