Bombay High Court lifts ban on Maggi

Mumbai: Granting relief to Nestle India, the Bombay High Court on Thursday set aside the orders of the Indian food regulator imposing a nationwide ban on the nine variants of Maggi noodles. But the High Court relief does not mean Maggi will be available anytime soon as the court said Nestle can start manufacturing and selling Maggi only after fresh samples are found safe after re-testing is done in three independent laboratories.

A division bench of Justices V.M. Kanade and B.P. Colabawala observed that “principles of natural justice were not followed by the food regulator while imposing the ban”. The judges said this was because the company was not given a hearing before the ban was imposed.

While the counsel for the Centre Advait M. Sethna, state advocate-general Anil Singh and advocate Tahwar Khan Pathan on behalf of FSSAI asked the court to stay its order so that it could be challenged before the Supreme Court, the Bench rejected this, saying the company itself has said it would not manufacture and sell Maggi noodles till it gets a clean chit from independent laboratories.

“The re-testing would take time, and hence there is no need to stay the order,” said the Bench. The judges also said the re-testing process should be completed in six weeks’ time.

The Bench has directed Nestle India to send its samples to three independent laboratories in Hyderabad, Punjab and Jaipur, that are accredited with the National Accreditation Board and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). If the test results show that lead content in noodles are within permissible limits, the company can start to manufacture and sell it, the Bench said.

The Bench also observed: “Though the court has set aside the ban, we are very concerned with the public health and safety, and hence the three laboratories will check whether the lead content is within permissible limits or not and will give its report to FSSAI.”