The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Central Licensing Authority under the FSSAI Act to file their counter-affidavits and posted the matter for disposal on March 4.
| Photo Credit: R. Ashok

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday granted interim relief to A.R. Dairy Food, Dindigul, which is facing proceedings for the alleged adulteration of ghee supplied to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams for preparation of the laddu prasadam.

The court said the order of the authorities would operate only for ghee and skimmed milk powder products and not for the other products being made by the company.

The court was hearing petitions filed by the company. The petitioner was given a licence for making dairy products, proprietary food, general manufacturing, trade and food products. The licence was subsequently modified on February 22, 2024. It was valid till June 1, 2029.

The cause of action was that an allegation was made against the petitioner about the possible presence of foreign fat other than milk fat in the ghee supplied to the TTD. Show-cause notices were issued and replies were received. Subsequently, the order was passed by the authorities and the licence of the petitioner was suspended in full.

The petitioner confined the prayer in the stay petition to all other businesses, except ghee. A separate petition was filed with regard to skimmed milk powder.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan said that given that the petitioner was in the business for years and the adverse notice was issued on account of a single transaction, the court was not inclined to close down the industry as a whole.

The court also took into account the petitioner’s argument that the right of the petitioner under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution (the right to practise any profession) would be affected and the other milk suppliers and employees of the petitioner would be rendered jobless if the industry was to be closed.

At the same time, public interest — of not being fed with adulterated food — should be considered. The interests of the industry and the public could certainly be balanced, the court said, dismissing the petition with regard to the skimmed milk powder.

There shall be a limited order of an interim stay on the impugned proceedings. The impugned order would operate only for ghee and skimmed milk powder products. It would not operate with respect to other products being made by the petitioner, the court said.

The court directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Central Licensing Authority under the FSSAI Act to file their counter-affidavits and posted the matter for disposal on March 4.