Maggi battle: Centre to fight Supreme Court stay order

Prabhsahay Kaur, who appeared for government in the consumer court, where proceedings have been stayed for now, promises strong defence against Wednesday’s verdict

Even as the fate of the country's first class action suit appears uncertain after the Supreme Court’s intervention on Wednesday, Prabhsahay Kaur, the lawyer representing the central government in the consumer court, says it will not give up without a fight.

The SC has, for the time being, accepted Nestle India’s plea to stay proceedings in this suit at the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

She told Business Standard, "The SC order only affects the hearing of the class action suit on January 7.

"The Union of India will appeal to the bench at the SC on January 13 to let the hearing at the NCDRC take its own course.”

The government is being represented by Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi in the Supreme Court.

He was not available for comment. Sources in the know say the government will put up a strong defence against Thursday’s order and counter Nestle's view that the apex consumer court has no jurisdiction to hear the Rs 640-crore (Rs 6.4-billion) class-action suit against it, when the Bombay High Court had already pronounced a verdict in the matter.

The company contended this amounted to judicial indiscipline.

Additionally, Nestle said the 16 more samples of Maggi to be tested at a food inspection laboratory in Chennai should instead be undertaken at that of the Central Food Technological Research Institute at Mysuru.

This, unlike the Chennai lab, is accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration.

On December 10, the NCDRC had directed the government to undertake the tests at the Chennai lab, which Nestlé had vehemently contested, saying the latter was not equipped to do tests that determined the amount of lead in the product.

The SC bench of judges Dipak Misra and P C Pant had subsequently accepted Nestlé's plea and directed that reports of the test, in addition to an earlier one ordered on October 15, be placed before it.

"Effectively, the proceedings at the NCRDC have not been set aside but powers to issue further orders have been restrained,” said Zakir Merchant, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co.

Agrees Sitesh Mukherjee, partner at law firm Trilegal, “

The apex court has not divested NCDRC of its jurisdiction in the matter but there is an interim stay in the proceedings relating to the Nestlé Maggi dispute.

The issue of whether there is a case for a class action lawsuit is still open.”

Legal experts said the government was well within its powers to take action under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and file a class action suit, either in its individual capacity or on behalf of complaining consumers.

However, the onus was on the government to back its claims of any unfair trade practice.