Monoaromatics, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), are simple aromatic compound that are highly toxic due to their high solubility nature. Many chemical and physical methods for their degradation and breakup into nontoxic products are available, but still use of microorganism is preferred over these processes. In this present study Bacillus pumilus MVSV3 (Accession number JN089707), a less explored bacteria in the field of BTEX degradation, isolated from petroleum contaminated soil is utilized for BTEX degradation. At optimized conditions the isolate degraded 150 mg/L of BTEX completely within 48 h. GC-MS analysis revealed that the microorganism produces catechol and muconic acid during degradation indicating an ortho pathway of degradation. Enzyme assays were carried out to identify and characterize catechol 1, 2-dioxygenase (C12D

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