NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of the FSSAI (Food Safety Standards Authority of India) directing Red Bull to stop using words 'energy drink' on its product. The judge said the Authority passed the order without giving any opportunity to the company to file a reply or give any explanation.
“The petition is allowed. The impugned order (of FSSAI) is set aside. The respondent is at liberty to pass a fresh order after according a hearing to the petitioner,” Justice Amit Mahajan said.
The judge passed the order on a plea by Red Bull challenging a June 30 order of FSSAI directing the company to discontinue using the term 'energy drink' on its beverage products.
The judge said that principles of natural justice have been violated. “It remains undisputed that the June 30 order of FSSAI directing petitioner Red Bull to not use the term ‘energy drink' in its product was passed without giving any opportunity to it to file any reply,” the judge said.
The judge said that the FSSAI was free to take a fresh decision in the matter after following due process, including issuing a show cause notice to Red Bull and granting it an opportunity of hearing.
The court passed the order after the FSSAI’s counsel informed the bench that no separate show cause notice was given.
The counsel said that the June 30 letter itself was a notice and the concern was only with the use of the words ‘energy drink’, and not with the product itself.
Red Bull had moved the court, claiming that it had been using the ‘energy drink' term for its beverage products in India since 2002, and that FSSAI had itself previously recognised its use for the relevant category of caffeinated beverages.
The judge on September 28 asked the FSSAI to take instructions specifically on whether any notice had been issued to Red Bull before the order was passed. “If there is no notice, it has to go,” the judge had said.
He had asked the FSSAI if there was any urgency that justified taking action without first hearing the company, saying there was “nothing emergent in it.”
