Sep 22, 2018
Offenders can be prosecuted under two different laws, says Supreme Court
The court said Maharashtra Police can initiate criminal action under IPC for transportation, stocking and sale of 'Gutka' or Pan Masala, which are offences also punishable under the Food and Safety Standards (FSS) Act.
A person can be prosecuted for an act or omission constituting an offence under two different laws but cannot be sentenced twice for the same offence, the Supreme Court has said.
The court said Maharashtra Police can initiate criminal action under IPC for transportation, stocking and sale of 'Gutka' or Pan Masala, which are offences also punishable under the Food and Safety Standards (FSS) Act.
"Where an act or an omission constitutes an offence under two enactments, the offender may be prosecuted and punished under either or both enactments but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence," a bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said.
The bench was hearing an appeal of the Maharashtra government challenging the Bombay High Court order which had said that a person can be held liable for offences of transportation, stocking and sale of Gutka or Pan Masala under the FSS Act and not the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"A perusal of the provisions of the FSS Act would make it clear that there is no bar for prosecution under the IPC merely because the provisions in the FSS Act prescribe penalties. We, therefore, set aside the finding of the High Court on the first point," the bench said on Thursday.
It said there was no dispute that section 55 of the FSS Act provides only for penalty to be imposed for non compliance of the requirements of the Act, Rules or Regulations or orders issued by the Food Safety Officer.
"There is no bar to a trial or conviction of an offender under two different enactments, but the bar is only to the punishment of the offender twice for the offence," the top court said.
The court said that it does not agree with the conclusion of the High Court that non compliance of the provisions of the Act, Rules or Regulations or orders cannot be subject matter of a prosecution under IPC unless expressly or impliedly barred.
The top court said that the High Court committed an error while interpreting the scope of section 188 of the IPC which relates to disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.
"Section 188 of the IPC does not only cover breach of law and order, the disobedience of which is punishable. Section 188 is attracted even in cases where the act complained of causes or tends to cause danger to human life, health or safety as well," the court said.
The bench added that it cannot agree with the findings of the high court that the prohibitory order of the Commissioner, Food and Safety is not an order contemplated under the IPC and the provisions of the FSS Act can only be resorted for non compliance of orders passed under the FSS Act as it is a special enactment.
"An act or an omission can amount to and constitute an offence under the IPC and at the same time, an offence under any other law. The High Court ought to have taken note of Section 26 of the General Clauses Act, 1897...," it said.
The top court remanded back the matter to the high court for adjudicating the point whether the offences under IPC are made out against the alleged offenders of the rule.
It, however, said that till the adjudication of petitions of stockists of Gutka and Pan Masala, no coercive action should be initiated.
The case pertains to FIR registered in Maharashtra for transportation, sale and stocking of Pan Masala, Gutka in contravention to the provisions of the FSS Act.
The stockists moved the high court seeking quashing of FIR on the ground that action can only be initiated against them under the FSS Act and not IPC.
The high court quashed the criminal proceedings against them and declared that the Food Safety Officers can proceed against the stockists and sellers of Gutka and Pan Masala under the provisions of the FSS Act only.
SC gives more teeth to food officers to curb gutka menace
NEW DELHI: Giving more power to food safety officers to curb manufacturing and sale of gutka/pan masala and other unsafe consumable items, the Supreme Court has empowered them to set in motion criminal proceedings against the offender by lodging case under Indian Penal Code in addition to proceedings under Food and Safety Standards Act which prescribe fine up to Rs 2 lakh.
A bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao set aside Bombay high court ruling which had said non-compliance of FSS Act could be penalised by food safety officer only by imposing of fine mentioned in the Act and no complaint for offences under the IPC could be lodged by the officer.
"There is no bar to a trial or conviction of an offender under two different enactments, but the bar is only to the punishment of the offender twice for the offence. Where an act or an omission constitutes an offence under two enactments, the offender may be prosecuted and punished under either or both enactments but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence," the bench said.
While the penalty of violation of FSS Act for sale and transportation of prohibited consumable items is up to Rs 2 lakh, the punishment under IPC for selling noxious food items or drinks is imprisonment up to six months jail term or fine which may extend to Rs 1,000 or with both.
Paving the way for food officers to initiate criminal proceedings against the offenders, the apex court said that HC erred in holding that Section 55 of the FSS Act is the only provision which can be resorted to for non compliance of orders passed under the FSS Act as it is a special enactment and provision of IPC cannot be invoked. Section 55 says that if a food business operator fails to comply with the requirements of this Act or the rules or regulations or orders issued there under, as directed by the food safety officer, he shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs 2 lakh.
"There is no dispute that Section 55 of the FSS Act provides for penalty to be imposed for non compliance of the requirements of the Act, Rules or Regulations or orders issued there under by the food safety officer. But, we are afraid that we cannot agree with the conclusion of the HC that non compliance of the provisions of the Act, Rules or Regulations or orders cannot be subject matter of a prosecution under IPC unless expressly or impliedly barred. The HC is clearly wrong in holding that action can be initiated against defaulters only under Section 55 of FSS Act or proceedings under Section 68 for adjudication have to be taken,"it said.
The court passed the order on a plea of Maharashtra government challenging HC decision. The state had issued notification IN 2013 under FSS Act prohibiting manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of tobacco, gutka, pan masala, flavored, scented tobacco, flavored/scented supari.
The food safety officer had apprehended few persons for selling gutka and lodged an FIR against them under Sections 188(disobedience of order), 272(adulteration), 273(sale of noxious food) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused then moved HC which set aside the criminal proceedings.
Quashing the HC order, the apex court said , "A perusal of the provisions of the FSS Act would make it clear that there is no bar for prosecution under the IPC merely because the provisions in the FSS Act prescribe penalties. We, therefore, set aside the finding of the High Court."
Punjab: FDA steps to check sale of flour ‘unfit’ for human consumption
With over two tonne of rotten, foul smelling wheat recovered from a flour mill in Ludhiana, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Punjab has ordered steps to check the sale of flour ‘unfit for human consumption’.
The FDA commissioner KS Pannu on Friday said one may opt out of fruits, sweets or paneer (cheese) out of one’s meals, but shunning flour out of Indian meals, especially that of middle and lower middle class is near impossible as of now. “So, it is imperative to immediately check the sale of sub standard flour,” he said.
Giving details of the strategy, the commissioner informed that working out the availability of the manpower, 22 teams have been constituted and directed to check all the suspects. In two days, over a hundred flour mills have been inspected state wide and extensive sampling has been done. The results of the samples are awaited and the most stringent action prescribed under law would be taken against the adulterators, Pannu said.
Simultaneously, the flour mill owners are being sensitised to procure good quality wheat from Food Corporation of India or other trusted sources. They are being advised to maintain hygiene in the mill premises and obtain license from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
A raid by joint team of food safety officers and dairy development officers from Sangrur at Bhagwati Agro Products Manufacturing Unit in Alamgir, Ludhiana on Monday revealed the case of 2000 quintals of highly damaged wheat being added to quality wheat for production of flour.
In two days, flour mills in Mohali, Kharar, Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka, Abohar, Muktsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala, SBS Nagar and Mansa were inspected.
Plastic ban: FSSAI warns against flouting norms
VELLORE: While the entire state is gearing up for a complete plastic ban from Januray 2019, the Vellore district designated officer for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had warned the shop keepers as well as water plant owners of stringent action if they try to flout the norms.
Addressing the reporters, J Venkatesh, designated officer of Vellore FSSAI , said the tamil nadu government had ordered ban on manufacture, sale, storage and usage of disposable plastic items including plastic cups, water sachets, carry bags, plastic plates and other items excluding polythene sachets used for packing milk, curd and medical items from January 1 2019.
The ban which aims to protect the environment for future generations will also help put to rest the stagnated one –use plastic materials sans creating further pollution.
Among the other plastic waste generated in the district, the consumed water pouches plays a major role polluting the environment in the district . At least 1,000 water packets are thrown on the streets of vellore districts daily, he said.
“As an excellent start to the ban,we had instructed the drinking water plants in Vellore to stop manufacturing and distributing water packets to its retailers after October. By all means manufacturing and distributing of water pouches is banned from first week of November,” he said.
Venkatesh notified that out of 69 water plants in the vellore district about 60 per cent of them are involved in manufacturing of water packets and all of them are using plastic that is below 50 microns. It is also hard to vigil disposed pouches been used by spurious water manufacturing companies, he said.
Venaktesh warned to take appropriate action under food safety act 2006 on water plant owners and retail shop owners who try to flout the order .
Separate standards soon for frozen peas, beans, cauliflower and spinach: FSSAI
Companies in the business of selling frozen peas, beans, cauliflower and spinach may soon have to follow standards for hygiene, stability of colour and flavour before the vegetables are packaged.
For the first time, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is working on setting separate standards for the four categories of frozen vegetables.
It has released a draft regulations for these vegetables seeking stakeholders’ comments. The standards will be part of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations 2018.
Currently, there are regulations for thermally processed vegetables, ready-to-eat vegetables, canned tomatoes and frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables, is a segment which is growing in strong double-digits, owing to growing demand from urban consumers.
The draft regulations havealso proposed for tolerance of visual defects such as blemishes and limits for extraneous vegetable material.
In addition, the draft proposes regulations for labelling of these frozen vegetables depending on whether they are packaged as whole, cut, sliced or chopped format. For instance, in case of frozen spinach, it will need to be labelled as whole spinach, cut spinach, chopped spinach or pureed spinach.
These regulations are getting finalised at a time when many companies are looking to get into the frozen vegetable segment. While Mother Dairy is one of the key players in this segment, recently Patanjali launched frozen peas, sweet corn and mixed vegetables in the packaged forms. Other companies such as ITC are also looking at this space, at a time when the government has been focusing on reduction of wastage by increase in processing of agricultural produce to increase farmers’ income.
Over the past two years, the FSSAI has been working on filling gaps as well as revising standards for various categories of processed food products.
Last month, the regulator had notified comprehensive standards for all pulses and new standards for pearl millet grains, maize flour, sago flour, bee wax and spring water. It also recently revised standards for honey to check adulteration through artificial colours and sugars.
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