CHENNAI: Makers of major milk and allied products Hatsun Agro Product Limited at T Nagar is in trouble, as a Division Bench of the Madras High Court has given its nod to the health authorities to proceed against it.
“We are of the opinion that the matter has to be gone into and should have been decided by the authorities on the basis of the analysis report,” the Bench comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and D Hariparanthaman observed recently.
Originally, a team of officials headed by the Food Inspector of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine department in Cheyyar, Tiruvannamalai district, inspected the company’s chilling centre at Nadukuppam village and took sample of skimmed milk powder and lactose and sent them for analysis, on July 22, 2008.
After inspection, it was found that in the process of preparing milk powder, date expired edible lactose was mixed with Hatsun skimmed milk powder and then it was repacked with fresh milk powder.
On these facts, search and seizure memo was issued by the fo od inspector. Challenging this, Hatsun moved the Madras High Court with a writ petition and a single judge quashed the seizure memo.
Aggrieved, the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Secretary and the Director of Health & Preventive Medicine and others filed the present appeal.
Allowing the appeal, the Bench observed that the alleged food article - skimmed milk powder - was seized and sent for chemical analysis report.
Even before identifying the seized product whether it was a food article or cattle feed as claimed by the company, it had challenged the search and seizure memo before the single judge.
Even assuming that the seized article was a cattle feed, it could be confirmed only from the analysis report. The decision of the health officer was not final. Sec 136 of the Public
Health Act provided for appeal against his decision. The company had approached the court at the premature stage and the single judge passed the order.
The company should have waited for the result of the analysis report and the decision to be taken by the health officers. After exhausting the appeal remedy, it could have approached the court.
“We are of the opinion that the matter has to be gone into and should have been decided by the authorities on the basis of the analysis report, since they would be the experts in the matter rather than this court,” the Bench said, quashed the single judge order and directed the health authorities to proceed against the company in accordance with law.