Pune: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a Bombay High Court order directing the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pay ₹ 5 lakh compensation to a Pune-based sweet and dairy products establishment, holding that the food safety authorities had acted in the interest of public health, according to FDA officials.
M/s. Gurunanak Dairy & Sweets. Officers from the FDA’s Pune office inspected the establishment and found deficiencies relating to hygiene, record maintenance, labelling and personal hygiene of employees.
The order was passed on October 5 in the case of the State of Maharashtra & Ors. v. The case arose from a FDA inspection conducted on June 12 following a complaint of alleged food poisoning. The establishment’s food licence was suspended under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The proprietor challenged the action through a statutory appeal before the commissioner, FDA, on June 15. The establishment submitted a compliance report on July 9. The FDA conducted a reinspection on July 13, four days after receiving the report. The matter reached the high court and it directed FDA on August 17 to deposit ₹ 5 lakh as compensation towards losses allegedly suffered by the establishment while revoking the suspension of the food licence. After considering the submissions, the apex court set aside the Bombay High Court’s direction requiring the FDA to pay ₹ 5 lakh compensation.
Before the Supreme Court, the state government submitted that FDA had acted after a food-poisoning complaint and had collected a sample of malai pedha for analysis. The sample was declared unsafe, following which the licence was suspended in the interest of public health.The state argued that FDA had acted promptly and that the statutory appeal filed by the establishment was still pending before the Commissioner, FDA.
