MUMBAI: The Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI has moved to alter the taste of relief for Nestle India which was recently permitted by the Bombay high court to export its 2-minute Maggi noodles, still banned in India.
In a plea served fresh on Thursday on lawyers for the state, the CEO of the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) who on June 5 had banned Maggi from store shelves across India, is now seeking a "recall, clarification or modification" of the June 30 HC order. Nestle India, a group company of the global food giant founded in 1866 in Vevey, Switzerland had petitioned the HC against the ban by FSSAI.
The HC in a four-line order had said, "It is clarified that the petitioners (Nestle India Ltd) are permitted to export the items, which have been manufactured by them'' before adding, "It is further clarified that Nestle is permitted to carry on export activities.'' The HC bench headed by Justice V M Kanade had then fixed July 14 as the next hearing date and till then continued its earlier interim order declining to stay the ban but offering Nestle a 72-hour protection against coercive steps.
The CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik, through his "authorised officer Ais Kumar", has now filed an application in the HC to question how permission for export could be granted without hearing him or seeking his stand. His application is likely to be heard on July 14, along with the main matter.
On June 12, the HC had refused to stay the June 5 domestic ban on Maggi as well as the June 6 ban order of the Food Commissioner of Maharashtra issued after 30 samples in a lot of 72 tested positive in various labs countrywide for presence of lead beyond permissible limits. Nestle India has maintained that its products are safe for consumers and that tests conducted in its own labs, as well as labs abroad have established its safety.
On June 30, Nestle India counsel Iqbal Chagla had however informed the HC that since June 5, 170 million packets of Maggi were incinerated out of 400 million packets or 27000 tons from the existing stock across the country The CEO, however, has now said that the June 30 HC order "is incomplete". In his application and affidavit affirmed on Wednesday, copies of which TOI has, he said, "The issue of permission to carry export activities was not taken up by the HC nor did the court enquire what stand the CEO had on the subject. The CEO was not asked to make any submissions during the hearing which his lawyer Mehmood Pracha attended on his behalf.'' "The order permitting export was passed without hearing the CEO of FSSAI.''
Pracha too in an affidavit recounted the proceedings of June 30 where he said the court had clarified that the 72-hour notice earlier ordered by the HC was only against coercive actions concerning recall of Maggi and other regulatory actions, the authority was permitted to take as per law. He said the order however "the clarification is not reflected in the June 30 order.'' He said he had clarified that the FSSAI and its CEO had "only asked Nestle to recall products found to be unsafe across the country. The company on its own was destroying the products without following due procedure.'' He said he had put a poser to the company that "if it felt their product (Maggi) is so safe... why don't they export them to other countries including the country of their origin which may be willing to accept these products despite them being declared unsafe in India.'' He added that the government authority was "not singling out Nestle.'' "Similar actions for similar defaults are being taken against other companies as well.''
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