High Court Slams FDA: A few days ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had taken strict action against famous private hotels and restaurants in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai on the grounds of unsanitary conditions and suspended their licenses. In one hotel, black spots were found on bananas and in another hotel, minor insects were found. The aggrieved hoteliers had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against this arbitrary and strict action. The petition was heard before a bench of in-charge Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad.
FDA’s shocking claim of 98% cleanliness
During the hearing, the High Court asked the FDA, “If you take such strict action against private hotels, then do you inspect government establishments and canteens in ministries? Are the laws followed the same there?” On this, the government prosecutors submitted a report on a 7-hour inspection of three canteens in the ministry on Thursday. The report claimed that the ministry’s canteen is 98 percent clean and compliant with food safety rules, and not a single fly, ants or cockroach was found there. High Court Slams FDA
High Court’s suspicion and a surprise visit from lawyers
The High Court did not believe the claim that there was not a single fly in the canteen of the Ministry, where lakhs of people come and go. The court immediately took a bold step to do ‘milk for milk and water for water’ . The bench adjourned the hearing and formed a separate team of 4 lawyers and ordered them to conduct a surprise raid on the canteen of the Ministry along with FDA officials. This team of lawyers was asked to inspect the situation directly and submit a report to the court by 3 pm. High Court Slams FDA
The truth is revealed in just half an hour.
When the team of lawyers reached the ministry in the afternoon, the scene was completely different. The falsehood of the FDA report was exposed in just 30 minutes. There were a large number of flies in the canteen, dust was spread everywhere, and food items were open. Most shockingly, there was a broken drainage pipeline near the washing area, the tap was leaking and sewage was accumulating there. High Court Slams FDA
‘Shoe stand cleaner than fridge!’ – Court angered
In the afternoon hearing, the team of lawyers presented photo and video evidence of the cleanliness in the canteen. Both the judges were extremely angry after seeing the extremely dirty condition of the defrost compartment of the fridge in the canteen. The court commented in very strong words that “a shoe stand is cleaner than this fridge.” The court made it clear that such a double standard of having one food safety law for VIPs and government officials and another for the general public will not work. High Court Slams FDA
Final orders and directions of the court
Taking serious note of this entire matter, the Bombay High Court has strictly ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep the laws the same for all. The bench clarified that food safety rules cannot be different for VIPs and the general public. Therefore, the administration should either immediately suspend the license of this unsanitary canteen in the ministry, or immediately restore the licenses of private hotels whose licenses have been canceled for minor errors by August 4. Also, instead of directly taking the axe of suspension on private commercial institutions, the court directed that they should first be given a proper notice to rectify the errors. It has also been indicated that strict disciplinary action will be taken against the responsible FDA officials who submitted a false report that misled the court, and a fresh impartial inspection of the canteen has been conducted and the next hearing of the case has been fixed for August 6. High Court Slams FDA