MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday set aside the suspension of the licence of AR Dairy Food Private Limited, which had been withheld after the firm allegedly supplied substandard ghee to the prasadam unit of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
Justice V Lakshminarayan remitted the matter back to the Central Licensing Authority under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, for reconsideration within a month.
He directed that the designated officer must pass an order on whether the company’s licence should be suspended for all its activities or limited only to the manufacture, transportation and sale of ghee.
The judge further observed that even if the officer decides to suspend the licence, it could only be an interim measure and, therefore, must not exceed more than six weeks. Within this period, the officer must decide on whether to cancel the licence by following established procedures.
He added that since the court has passed the order on technical grounds, the company must pay a cost of Rs 2 lakh to the licensing authority within two weeks. Until a final decision is taken, the judge permitted the company to operate its other units, except those producing ghee and milk powder.
The order was passed on a petition filed by the company, challenging the suspension of its licence by the central designated officer on 14 February.
The judge observed that, as per Regulation 2.1.8 of the Licensing Regulations, it is mandatory to issue notice and provide an opportunity for hearing to the Food Business Operator (FBO) before suspending the licence. The order of suspension must also be a reasoned one, he added.
“Though suspension of the petitioner’s licence was done upon issuance of a notice, procuring a written reply and through a reasoned order, since the petitioner was not heard before the suspension order was passed, the exercise was not properly done,” the judge said.
He also added that the authorities failed to consider whether the activities of the petitioner were so detrimental to the public that the suspension of all the activities was necessary or whether suspension of the manufacture of ghee products alone would have been sufficient.
“When the Act and Regulations call upon the authorities to decide on this issue, failure on their part to consider this aspect necessarily requires this Court to interfere,” the judge observed and passed the above order.