JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday asked the government to file an affidavit before it stating that the food safety officers in the state are fulfilling the required qualifications to tackle the menace of food adulteration. This came after a report by the state government stating there were no cases of synthetic milk being sold in the state but only cases of sub-standard (milk mixed with water) being sold.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Sunil Ambwani and Prakash Gupta issued the order while hearing a petition on the reports of milk adulteration in the state. The court had taken suo motto cognizance of the report in 2005 following reports that synthetic milk was being sold in the state and issued notices to all the 33 district collectors and CMHOs to file reports after taking random sample tests.
The report was submitted in the court on Thursday by additional advocate general Dharam Veer Tholia. He said not a single case of synthetic milk was reported in the samples collected by a special team constituted for the purpose. However, it said a few cases of sub-standard milk (milk mixed with water) and misbrand (no proper display of manufacturing and expiry etc) was found.
The court also asked why there is no food safety appellate tribunal in the state. Then Tholia replied that the government could not constitute the tribunal as the high court has not appointed the presiding officers for the tribunals.
The court-appointed counsel for petitioner Dr P C Jain then raised the issue of qualification of the food safety officers. He said the food safety officers are not adequately qualified to tackle the issue of adulteration and the court asked the government to file the affidavit on March 26.
