11. Amendment of section 11B.- In section 11B of the principal Act,-
(a) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-
"(1) No application for a patent shall be examined unless the applicant or any other interested person makes a request in the prescribed manner for such examination within the prescribed period.";
(b) sub-section (2) shall be omitted;
(c) for sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-
"(3) In case of an application in respect of a claim for a patent filed under sub-section (2) of section 5 before the 1st day of January, 2005 a request for its examination shall be made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period by the applicant or any other interested person.";
(d) in sub-section (4),-
(i) the words, brackets and figure "or sub-section (2)" shall be omitted; (ii) for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:-
"Provided that-
(i) the applicant may, at any time after filing the application but before the grant of a patent, withdraw the application by making a request in the prescribed manner; and
(ii) in a case where secrecy direction has been issued under section 35, the request for examination may be made within the prescribed period from the date of revocation of the secrecy direction.".
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