BENGALURU: Syed Ahammed, a trader, will have to undergo simple imprisonment for six months and pay Rs 1,000 fine for selling 600gm of adulterated coffee powder worth Rs 60 without the prescribed labelling, 14 years ago. He is from Select Coffee Works at Sakaleshpura in Hassan district.
Upholding the order by the trial court and session court confirming his conviction, Justice HB Prabhakara Sastry said, “Since the sentence ordered by the trial court and confirmed by the sessions court is proportionate to the gravity of the proven guilt against the accused.”
He asked Ahammed to surrender before the trial court within 45 days to serve the sentence.The trial court sentenced Ahammed in June 2016 for the offences punishable under Section 7(i) and (ii) read with Section 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. The sessions court upheld it in March 2018.
The Food Inspector visited the shop Select Coffee Works in Sakaleshpura and purchased 600gm powder by paying Rs60 on June 20, 2008, and sent it to Regional Laboratory at Mysuru for analysis, which revealed discrepancies in caffeine content and aqueous extract. The report also indicated that the label on the packet showed that the batch number, ‘best before’ and ‘veg’ or ‘non-veg’ symbol were missing.