CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the additional district magistrate-cum-adjudicating authority, Cuttack, for the inordinate delay in adjudicating a case against Indo Nissin Foods Pvt. Ltd, a multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, over alleged food safety violations related to a popular brand of noodles Top Ramen.
The case was instituted on the basis of a report submitted by the Food Safety Officer following testing of samples of a particular brand of noodles seized from the depot of the company in Cuttack in 2015. The report raised concerns over the presence of monosodium glutamate (MSG), prompting initiation of adjudication proceedings.
The company filed a petition before the ADM on November 1, 2016, seeking dismissal of the proceedings on the ground that it was arbitrary, unlawful, and in violation of the order issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on March 31, 2016.
The FSSAI had clarified that glutamate occurs naturally in several foods, and current analytical methods cannot conclusively distinguish between naturally occurring and added MSG. Enforcement, it added, should only proceed when a product explicitly claims ‘No MSG’ or ‘No Added MSG’ and MSG is later detected.
Although the hearing on the said petition was concluded, no order was passed. Even though the company filed representations in 2016 and again in 2018 seeking dismissal of the case, the ADM failed to pass any order. Subsequently the company had sought the high court’s intervention.
Considering the company’s petition, Justice SK Panigrahi on Friday said, “In the present case, the proceedings have remained pending since the year 2015, a period exceeding nine years. This court is at a loss to understand as to how such an extraordinary delay has occurred and, more alarmingly, how has it continued unchecked.”
“The record discloses that despite the petitioner having filed representations in 2016 and again in 2018, no final order has been passed to date. Such administrative inaction is not only indefensible but also reflects a disturbing disregard for procedural discipline,” Justice Panigrahi remarked. Accordingly, Justice Panigrahi directed the ADM, Cuttack to pay a sum of Rs 25,000 to the petitioner within a period of four weeks.
The ADM has also been directed to hear and dispose of adjudication case within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the order, without fail.