Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd on Friday moved the Mumbai high court challenging the Maharashtra government's action of confiscating huge stock of its aerated water products from the Pune plant following report of alleged pesticide contents and also questioned an official notice prohibiting sale and distribution of the seized goods.
The petition, filed by the company, came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice C K Thakker which allowed the state government time until August 11 to file a reply.
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The petitioner company contended that the officer who had seized the stock had no powers to do so and order a ban on the sale and distribution of the seized stock, while the state government justified it saying such powers were derived under section 10 (1) (c) of Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
Suspecting the aerated waters to contain high dose of pesticides, M S Kembalkar, Food Inspector, Pune, on August 6, had raided a Coca-Cola plant at Pirangot village in Pune district and seized bottles and cans of Thumps Up, Coke, Sprite and Limca worth Rs 66.70 lakh.
He also issued a notice on August 6 prohibiting the company from selling and disposing off the stock. The officer also obtained samples from the stock and sent it to the state public health laboratory for testing them. The reports are awaited.
Altogether 39,849 bottles and 18,306 cans of Sprite, 32,601 bottles and 18,306 cans of Coca-Cola, 11,084 bottles and 8,994 cans of Thumps Up and 47,246 bottles of Limca were seized by the food inspector, the court was told.
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd contended that the food inspector in Pune had no powers to seize its products without obtaining prior consent of health authorities.
In this instance, the concerned officer had obtained permission from the local health officer and the assistant Commissioner (Food), Pune.
Both are not authorised under Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act to order seizure and ban sale of products, the petitioner company said.
The government action was based on a report submitted by a Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment.
The report had allegedly mentioned that the aerated waters contained high dose of pesticides as per American norms. Such report was unconfirmed and unverified, the company alleged.
The petitioner said that the government while taking action had not followed principles of natural justice.
"We adhere to the international norms and even water used for aerated drinks is tested before use. There are no contents of pesticide which are harmful to health," the petition said.
Strictly on the basis of this report it would be unjust on the part of the government to take action against the company, the petition said and urged the court to direct the government to restrain from taking further action.
The company offered to undertake test of its products from Vimta Lab in Hyderabad or Choksi Lab in Indore to prove its claim that its products are not harmful to health.
Government counsel Sudip Nargolkar argued that the matter concerned public health and hence the government needed time until Monday to state the facts of the case.
He also said that the government had powers under Prevention of Food Adulteration act to prevent the sale of such stock if they were suspected to be adulterated.