CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court (HC) on Thursday issued notices to the State Government and the Omfed asking both to file affidavits over purity of milk produced by various companies in the State.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice BN Mohapatra has given two weeks for the Government and the Omfed to submit their affidavits.
The HC direction came after Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra, secretary of Cuttack-based social organisation ‘Tridhara’, filed a PIL alleging that adulterated milk is being supplied by the producing firms, including Omfed, which accounts for about 90 per cent of it.
The petitioner alleged that a test conducted by Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), which had collected milk samples from 33 states, including Odisha, found that out of 1,791 samples, only 565 conformed to the standard while the rest were found adulterated.
Stating that milk samples collected from Odisha were found to be 100 per cent adulterated, the petitioner appealed to the HC to direct the State Government to make a thorough testing of the milk before the dairy product is released into the market for human consumption.