HYDERABAD: A division Bench of the High Court told the Telangana and AP governments on Monday that it was the right time to take measures as well as conduct awareness campaigns vigorously to prevent usage of chemicals to ripen fruits in view of the mango season.
The Bench, comprising acting chief justice Dilip B Bhosale and justice P Naveen Rao, was dealing with a taken-up case based on news reports on usage of calcium carbide and other hazardous chemicals to ripen fruits artificially in both the states.
The Bench asked both the state authorities to intensify raids and checks on fruit markets and sellers and not to confine the action plans only on papers for implementation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Food Safety (Prohibition and Restriction in Sale) Regulations 2011 which bans the persons from selling fruits ripened by using chemicals.
3 IAS Officers Fined for Contempt
Hyderabad: Taking a serious view of the lack of seriousness in implementation of the court orders by bureaucrats, the High Court on Monday found three IAS officers guilty in separate contempt cases and awarded punishment to them. Justice A Ramalingeswara Rao was dealing with contempt cases filed against the three officers. Rangareddy collector Raghunandan was found guilty and was fined `1,116. The judge ordered him to undergo two days of simple imprisonment if he fails to pay the penalty. The Mahbubnagar district collector was also given a similar punishment. Marketing commissioner A Sharat was ordered to pay ` 5,000 as penalty or face seven days of imprisonment.