Nishka Srinivas Veluvali –
Published On: December 10, 2021 at 20:10 IST
Madras High Court has emphasized the increasing consequences of food adulteration in the public domain during dismissing a writ petition challenging the Order given by the Designated Officer in the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The Authorities submitted that they have been taking swift action as the large-scale adulteration is on rise.
To which Justice S.M Subramaniam noted, “The authorities submit that they have been conducting routine inspections and taking actions against the traders. However, there is no sign of reduction in adulteration; on the contrary, this practise is on the rise. Therefore, a combined method of creating awareness among the consumers, conducting regular inspections and prosecuting them immediately under the Act and regulations is more important to bring down the number of offenders.”
The Madras High Court had issued suo moto charging the Commissioner of Food Safety for the restricted purpose of executing the Court’s Orders on generating awareness about food adulteration.
The Court claimed that, “Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the Right to Health; in order to preserve the right to life, adulteration of food products must be minimal. Large scale adulteration will cause chronic diseases among the public. Thus, the authority is bound to bear in their mind that it is their constitutional duty to ensure the safety of public and remain vigilant.”
The matter was taken up for hearing on Wednesday, 8 December, when the Court asked the Food Safety Commissioner to designate any responsible Officer to appear before the Court, to find out the standardisation of Raw Dhania and Dhania powder sold in the market.
Today in the Court Justice S.M. Subramaniam observed that the respective Officials made their appearance before the Court.
The Court enquired for how many prosecutions were commenced on the food adulteration complaints in 2021. The Additional Government Pleader responded that prosecutions were initiated for 21 cases in 2021 and over 500 cases are undergoing adjudication process.
Moving ahead to the main context of the Writ Petition that is adulteration of Dhaniya whole, the Court noted that Dhaniya is one of those ingredients that is unavoidable in the South Indian households and the major adulteration is done in that commodity itself.
Furthermore, the Court Ordered the Food Safety officers to concentrate on their inspections and collection of samples from the factories itself.