Primary question by apex court about its harmful effects remains unanswered

Formal orders, spanning over a year, passed by the Supreme Court in the public interest petition triggered by the “highly disturbing” photographs of people who may have been affected by the pesticide endosulfan in Kerala show the case has come full circle. The case, Democratic Youth Federation of India vs. Union of India , was first heard on May 2, 2011, by a three-judge bench led by the then Chief Justice of India Justice S.H. Kapadia. Eleven days later, on May 13, 2011, the Bench ordered an “immediate ban” on the pesticide.