The Hindu Business Line : Kerala HC admits two writs on cola ban

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Kerala HC admits two writs on cola ban

K.C. Gopakumar

Kochi , Aug. 21

The Kerala High Court on Monday admitted two writ petitions filed by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Ltd and PepsiCo India Holdings Private Ltd challenging the Government order banning the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the State.

STAY DECLINED

Mr Justice S. Siri Jagan, while admitting the petitions, declined to stay the Government order for the time being. The court adjourned to Thursday the hearing on petitions seeking to stay the order filed by the companies.

In their petitions, the companies said the Government had no power to impose ban on the manufacture and sales of food articles under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act.

As per the provisions of the Act it was the Central Government, which could frame rules for prohibiting the sale of any substances, which may be injurious to health.

In fact, the ban order was issued in the light of the report of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-government organisation, that it had found minuscule percentage of pesticide residues in certain bottles of carbonated soft drinks and that the same was beyond the permissible levels set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

`NO PROTOCOL'

The petitioners said the CSE had carried out certain tests to determine the pesticide residue in carbonated beverages on its own assumed protocols, when no protocols for tests had either been approved by the Centre or any international body or authority.

In fact, the BIS was yet to formulate the standard for tests. It wasstill in the process of discussions. The Central Government had clearly notified that more studies need to be carried out before setting standards.

It was, therefore, inconceivable that the State Government had acted on a report that based its claim on non-existent standards. The petitioners also pointed out that in food articles of daily consumption such as food grains, milk and milk products, fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, the permissible pesticide residue tolerance limits as per Rules 65 of the PFA rules were several thousand times more than those purported to have been found by the CSE in its report.

The petitioners said the CSE was not a statutory organisation. Nor was it an accredited agency of the Central Government for the purpose of testing and analysing samples of soft drinks. So, the report published by such agency cannot be relied upon in the absence of corroboration by accredited laboratories. They further said that the CSE result had not been corroborated or reviewed by any other scientific body. Therefore, the action of the Government, which was based on the uncorroborated findings of the CSE, was illegal and arbitrary.

The petitioners also contended that the order had been passed without issuing any notice or order to the companies.

The petitions sought to quash the Government ban order.

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