Mumbai, Aug 25: The Mumbai High Court today set aside a Maharashtra government order that banned Hindustan Coca Cola beverages from selling or distributing seized stock of cold drinks which allegedly contained pesticide residues beyond the permissible limits. Hearing a petition filed by the company, a bench headed by Chief Justice C K Thakker accepted the report of public analyst A D Ghevari who said the samples of the seized stock revealed that such residues were much below the prescribed levels and hence considered not harmful.
The petition had challenged Maharashtra government's raid on its Pune plant and seizure of huge stock of soft drink bottles and cans following report of alleged pesticide contents but interim relief was not granted and the state was directed to file reply. The petition urged the court to set aside August 6 order of the food inspector in Pune that banned the company from selling or disposing of the seized stock.
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 Thumbs Up, coke, Sprite and Limca worth Rs 66.70 lakhs. Bureau Report