New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the plea of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that challenges the Bombay High Court order on Maggie controversy.
The authority, however, did not insist to challenge the HC order on lifting the ban but pressed for immediate stay on High Court's adverse observation.
“The HC order is creating a hurdle in the way of FSSAI to perform its statutory function of testing food materials as the court said that labs can carry out these examinations only after being accredited,” Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi told the bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant.
“There are 70 labs across the country and getting accreditation would take time”, Rohtagi added.
The petition, filed by the authority, pointed out 119 errors in the HC order and said that court erred in allowing the company to give samples of its own choice.
The bench have sought a response from Nestle India asking the food giant to file it by January 5, while making re-arrangements for the case's hearing on January 13. The government had filed the suit in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India raised the safety concerns. The consumer court has since ordered fresh tests on Maggi samples.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court asked Nestle to respond by January 12 to an appeal by the food regulator against the high court order which, while setting aside the Maggi ban, also effectively rendered the regulator toothless by questioning the credentials of its testing labs spread across the country.
The noodles were banned by the food regulator earlier this year after it said tests showed excessive amount of lead and traces of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate in the product, but the Bombay High Court has struck down the order.
