The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to issue supplementary notice and grant time to A.R. Dairy Food, Dindigul, to respond to it.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar was hearing a petition filed by A.R. Dairy Food, represented by G. Kannan, the authorised signatory. The petitioner challenged the show-cause notice issued to the company.
The firm began supplying ghee to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) on June 4, and TTD accepted four consignments that month after clearance from the in-house testing laboratory. Subsequently, four consignments were supplied in July. However, they were rejected without providing a reason. Show-cause notices were issued to the company as to why the contract should not be cancelled, and why it should not be blacklisted.
The company responded to the notices and the matter was pending. TTD had relied on the findings of the lab reports of samples by Gujarat-based NDDB-Calf, which was not a food safety officer prescribed under the FSSA Act, 2006, the petitioner said. On September 20, FSSAI issued a show-cause notice seeking an explanation from the company as to why its Central licence should not be suspended for contravention of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011.
The FSSAI had not followed the procedure of the Act. Only after the issuance of the notice were samples taken from the Dindigul unit. A response was issued on September 22 denying the allegations. Subsequently, a notice was issued on September 27, he said, challenging it.
