In force · As amended up to 2026-08
5. Effect of establishment of Regional Centre.— (1) On and from the date of commencement of this — Act,
(a) any reference to the existing Regional Centre in any law, other than this Act, or in any contract or other instrument, shall be deemed as a reference to the Regional Centre;
(b) all properties and assets, movable and immovable, of, or belonging to the existing Regional Centre shall vest in the Regional Centre;
(c) all rights and liabilities of the existing Regional Centre shall be transferred to, and be the rights and liabilities of, the Regional Centre;
(d) without prejudice to the provisions of clause (c), all debts, obligations and liabilities incurred, all contracts entered into and all matters and things engaged to be done by, with or for, the existing Regional Centre immediately before the said date, for or in connection with the purposes of the said Regional Centre shall be deemed to have incurred, entered into or engaged to be done by, with or for, the Regional Centre;
(e) all sums of money due to the existing Regional Centre immediately before that date shall be deemed to be due to the Regional Centre;
(f) all suits and other legal proceedings instituted or which could have been instituted by or against the existing Regional Centre immediately before that date may be continued or may be instituted by or against the Regional Centre;
(g) every employee (including those appointed for imparting instruction or giving training or conducting research in the existing Regional Centre), holding any office under the existing Regional Centre or teaching therein immediately before the commencement of this Act shall hold his office in the Regional Centre or continue teaching therein by the same tenure and upon the same terms and
conditions of service as respects remuneration, leave, provident fund, retirement and other terminal benefits as he would have held such office if this Act had not been enacted and shall continue to do so as an employee of the Regional Centre or until the expiry of the period of six months from that date if such employee opts not to be the employee of the Regional Centre within such period.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947) or in any other law for the time being in force, absorption of any employee by the Regional Centre in its regular service under this section shall not entitle such employee to any compensation under that Act or any other law and no such claim shall be entertained by any court, tribunal or other authority.
— 6. Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the Regional Centre shall extend to whole of India and to such centres and specialised laboratories or other units for research, development and instruction, established by the Regional Centre within or outside India.
— — 7. Objectives of Regional Centre. The objectives of the Regional Centre shall be
(a) to disseminate and to advance knowledge by providing instructional and research facilities in such branches of biotechnology and related fields as it may deem fit including technology policy development;
(b) to provide capacity-building through education, training, research and development in biotechnology and related academic fields for sustainable development objectives through regional and international cooperation;
(c) to facilitate transfer of knowledge and technology relating to biotechnology at the regional level;
(d) to create a hub of biotechnology expertise and to address human resources needs in the countries in the region;
(e) to promote and strengthen international co-operation to improve the social and economic conditions and welfare of the people;
(f) to promote and facilitate a network of satellite centres in the region as well as within India.
— — 8. Functions of Regional Centre. The functions of the Regional Centre, shall be
(a) to establish infrastructure and technology platforms which are directly relevant to biotechnology education, training and research;
(b) to execute educational and training activities including grant of degrees in education and research in biotechnology and related fields;
(c) to produce human resource tailored to drive innovation in biotechnology, particularly in areas of new opportunities and to fill talent gap in deficient areas;
(d) to undertake research and development and scientific investigations in collaboration with relevant research centre's in the region;
(e) to hold scientific symposia and conferences within India or in the region or outside the region and to conduct short-term and long-term training courses and workshops in all areas of biotechnology;
(f) to collect universally available information with a view to setting up data banks for bioinformation;
(g) to collect and disseminate, through networking, the relevant local knowledge in the field of biotechnology, ensuring protection of intellectual property rights of local stakeholder communities;
(h) to develop and implement a policy for intellectual property rights which is equitable and just to the stakeholders involved in research in the Regional Centre;
(i) to disseminate the outcome of research activities in different countries through the publication of books and articles;
(j) to promote collaborative research and development networking programme in specific areas of biotechnology with national, regional and international networks and promote exchange of scientists, at the regional level having regard to issues pertaining to intellectual property rights of collaborating institutions promoting equitable sharing of benefits with collaborating institutions.
— 9. Regional Centre to work in collaboration with other institutions of UNESCO. The Regional Centre shall pursue its objects and discharge its functions in close collaboration with other national, regional and international institutions of the UNESCO.
Source: India Code