KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the government order reducing the price of bottled water to Rs 13 from Rs 20 per litre.
It also directed the government to file an affidavit explaining ways to regulate the price of packaged drinking water. In the wake of the order, manufacturers can now charge Rs 20 for packaged drinking water, said Mary Benjemin, counsel for the petitioner.
Justice PV Kunhikrishnan issued the order on the petition filed by Kerala Packaged Drinking Water Manufactures Association (KPDA), Kochi, challenging the government order capping the price of packaged drinking water at Rs 13 by listing it as an essential commodity.
'Drinking water sold at different rates'
The government had issued the order following a representation by Kerala Bottled Water Manufacturers Association which sought steps to control the selling price of packaged drinking water. Members of the association had said that the commodity was being sold at exorbitant rates and at different retail prices within the state.
However, KPDA-Kochi, the petitioners, argued that the government notification declaring packaged drinking water as an essential article under the Kerala Essential Articles Control Act, 1986, was unsustainable as drinking water is a food item and the government's regulatory measures under the Act would not apply to it. The observed that the government’s intention was genuine and laudable.
However, it has no power to regulate the price of packaged drinking water. The government argued that not drinking water but the composite product of packaged drinking water was being regulated and hence, the government had the power to do so.
However, the court said the government lacks jurisdiction in declaring 'packaged drinking water' as an essential article under the Kerala Essential Articles Control Act, 1986 in the light of the Food Safety Act, 2006. Consequently, the order regulating the price of packaged drinking water is legally unsustainable.
The court said packaged drinking water was being sold at different rates in different parts of the state and asked the government to come up with a proposal in consultation with the Centre to regulate its price.