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‘Do You Feel You Are A Lord’: Bombay High Court Raps Tukaram Mundhe’s Food Safety Body
The court criticised the FDA for acting with “undue haste”, failing to properly analyse the law and, in one case, violating the “principles of natural justice”.
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The Bombay High Court pulled up the Tukaram Mundhe-led Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in two separate cases, forcing the regulator to withdraw orders against a Cipla facility in Pune and five eateries operating from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) premises in Mumbai.
The court criticised the FDA for acting with “undue haste”, failing to properly analyse the law and, in one case, violating the “principles of natural justice”. In the MCA matter, the bench also accused the regulator of taking a “pedantic instead of pragmatic view”.
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‘Do You Feel You Are A Lord?’
The sharpest observations came during the hearing concerning five restaurants at the MCA premises in Bandra-Kurla Complex. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad questioned the FDA’s approach after it emerged that a fresh inspection found the eateries to be 88% compliant with food safety requirements.
“Do you feel you are a Lord and you can do anything?” the court asked the FDA while questioning why the department repeatedly acted in undue haste.
The court said it had previously asked the FDA to apply its mind and take a pragmatic view of the issue, but alleged that the department had instead taken a “pedantic” approach.
“We are tired of scolding the department and officers all the time. It is now time to pass stinging orders. We will issue contempt action against the concerned officers. Let them convince us or go to jail,” the court said.
The FDA subsequently informed the court that it would withdraw its order suspending the operations of the five eateries and issue a fresh notice to the MCA, giving it an opportunity to respond regarding its contract with M/s Shirke Infrastructure.
The court accepted the move and said that since the eateries were now compliant with food safety rules, the suspension order stood vacated and the restaurants could reopen.
Dispute Over MCA’s Restaurant Licences
The dispute arose because the food licences were issued in the name of the MCA, while the eateries were being operated by M/s Shirke Infrastructure. The court noted that there was no provision under the law prohibiting such an arrangement and questioned the FDA’s decision-making process.
“How many times should we try to convince and balance equities so that the department does not feel discouraged? Why do we say, ‘Don’t kill a mosquito with a sword’?” the bench said.
It also questioned why the FDA was passing orders without adequately analysing the applicable law.
FDA Withdraws Cipla Licence Cancellation
In the second case, the High Court forced the FDA to withdraw its order cancelling the drug sale licences of Cipla Pharma & Life Sciences Ltd’s carrying and forwarding facility at Wadki in Pune. The licences had been cancelled with effect from August 27 following alleged violations detected during a follow-up investigation into the packaging and recall of Reactin Plus tablets. The court questioned the procedure followed by the FDA, including an email calling the company’s representative for a hearing on a state government-declared public holiday.
“You are doing a laudable and appreciative job, but now you are going overboard. This is not the first time this is happening. You have wronged, and now you have to resolve the issue,” the bench told the FDA.
The court said the FDA had acted in a “high-handed” manner and followed the wrong procedure in cancelling the licence.
“The order is against the principles of natural justice,” the court observed.
Following the court’s intervention, the FDA withdrew the cancellation order.
The twin setbacks came amid a wider enforcement drive by the Maharashtra FDA under Tukaram Mundhe, who has drawn attention for his actions against food establishments and other businesses over alleged violations of food and drug safety regulations.
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Ask News18The Maharashtra FDA will withdraw its order cancelling Cipla’s drug sale licence and issue a fresh show cause notice before making a new decision. Similarly, the FDA has withdrawn the suspension of food licences for five Mumbai Cricket Association eateries and will issue fresh notices, considering submissions from the MCA and its concessionaire.
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Original source: https://www.news18.com/movies/movie-reviews/
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