Writ Petition (Civil) No. 681 of 2004. Case: Centre for Public Interest Litigation Vs Union of India (UOI) and Ors.. Supreme Court (India)
| Case Number | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 681 of 2004 |
| Judges | K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, JJ. |
| Issue | Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006 - Sections 2, 4, 13, 13(4), 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 40, 92(2); Food Safety and the Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 - Regulation 2.10.6; Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011; Food Safety and Standards (Restriction of Advertisement) and ... |
| Citation | 2013 (13) SCALE 210 |
| Judgement Date | October 22, 2013 |
| Court | Supreme Court (India) |
Judgment:
K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan, J.
1. The writ petition was preferred for constituting an independent Expert/Technical Committee to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of the children, and also for a direction to Respondent No. 1-Union of India-to put in place a regulatory regime which could control and check the contents in a particular chemical additive in foods, including soft drinks. Further, direction was also sought for against Respondent No. 1 to make it mandatory for the soft drinks manufacturers to disclose the contents and their specific quantity on the labels of soft drinks, including appropriate warnings, qua a particular ingredient, and its harmful effects on the people. Petitioner has also sought for a direction to Respondent No. 1 to check and control the misleading advertising of soft drinks, particularly advertisements targeted at children, unwary uneducated and illiterate people.
2. The Union of India and other Respondents have maintained the stand that the Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006 (the FSS Act), along with its Rules and Regulations framed thereunder, constitute a vigorous regulatory regime, which takes care of all the above mentioned situations and provisions of the FSS Act and the Rules and Regulations are being enforced scrupulously and meticulously. Over and above, it was pointed, in pursuance to the orders passed by this Court on 8.2.2011 and 15.4.2011, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (for short "the Food Authority") examined the various grievances raised by the Petitioner and passed the order on 12.9.2012. The findings recorded in the order dated 12.9.2012 passed by the Food Authority would allay all the fears and apprehensions raised by the writ Petitioner and in any view the same could be taken care of by the authorities functioning under the provisions of the FSS Act as well as the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder. Further, it was also pointed out that if the Petitioner or any other citizen has any grievance, he can always approach the statutory authorities functioning under the FSS Act and, hence, no further directions are called for from this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
3. We have gone through the various provisions of the FSS Act, the Food Safety and the Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Rules framed thereunder, etc. In our view, by and large, the various grievances raised by the Petitioner are seen covered by the above mentioned legislations, but the question is only with regard to their enforcement by the authorities functioning under these legislations.
4. We have already indicated that the main apprehension of the Petitioner is that there is no proper regulatory regime in place to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of children and also there is no mechanism to control and check the contents in particular chemical additive in food, including soft drinks. Petitioner also submitted that, though two separate scientific panels for additives, labelling and advertising were constituted on the basis of the directions given by this Court, the Petitioner's grievances regarding the ingredients of soft drinks were considered by the scientific panel on labelling and advertising and not by the scientific panel on food additives. Petitioner submitted that the issue could have been considered by the scientific panel for food additives only and not by the panel which has been constituted to consider issues of labelling and advertising. The Petitioner also submitted that even the recommendations made by the Ganguly Committee were not followed by the above mentioned committees. Ganguly Committee has recommended for a "well controlled studies to Assess effects of consumption of carbonated water on health" and also an independent cell for "risk analysis". Petitioner has pointed out that consumption of large amount of Caffeine (methylated xanthine) can cause diseases and disorders, such as, insomnia, nervousness, anxiety and so on, which has been used as an additive in soft drinks and is harmful to human life. In support of this contention, reference has been made to various research papers which have highlighted the harmful effects of consumption of Caffeine.
5. Petitioner has also highlighted the harmful effects on children created through misleading advertising, for which reference has been made on the study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and also on various study papers published in the several International journals, highlighting the impact of advertising on children and its harmful effects.
6. We have already indicated that on the basis of the orders passed by this Court on 8.2.2011 and 15.4.2011 and in exercise of powers conferred Under Section 13(4) of the FSS Act, the Food Authority, constituted an expert Scientific Panel on Labelling and Claims/Advertising and that Panel, after examining the various grievances raised by the Petitioner and giving an opportunity of being heard, passed an order on 12.9.2012, the operative portion of the same reads as under:
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Soft drinks as referred in the representation (Petitioner's representation dated 18.03.2011), are regulated as carbonated water in accordance with the standards under Food Safety and Standard Regulation, 2011." "With the existing consumption pattern prevalent in the country as reported in the above referred data, the ingredients present in the beverage do not appear to pose any health hazard."
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The labelling of soft drinks is governed by the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. "The labelling provisions of carbonated beverages is in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011."
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The advertisement of carbonated beverages is governed inter alia by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, Food Safety and Standards (Restriction of Advertisement) and Regulation, 2011 and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Code. The advertisement of...
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