Kerala HC quashes ban on Coke, Pepsi: Says Govt. order 'arbitrary'

Kochi, Sep 22 (UNI) The Kerala High Court today quashed the state government decision of August ten to ban the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in Kerala, holding that the order was arbitrary and without due jurisdiction of power.

A division bench consisting of Chief Justice V K Bali and Justice M Ramachandran held that the state government had no power under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) to ban food products.

The court found that the shift of the government stand during the course of arguments was surprising and noted that in the light of the authoritative judgement of the Supreme Court in the 'Pan Masala' case in 2004, the same was binding on all courts.

The court also said that before passing the drastic orders entailing a complete ban on colas, the government did not follow the principles of natural justice. In the circumstances, the court held that the ban order was passed without complying with the formalities and was arbitrary.

The court also held that the government had acted merely on the basis of the report of the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based NGO, without waiting for the report of the Central analyst.

In their separate petitions, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd and Pepsi India Holdings Private Ltd had sought the quashing of the Kerala government's ban order of August 10 and order of the Director of Health Services of August 11.

The petitioners contended that the action of the government was an unreasonable restriction, violative of Art. 19 (1) g of the Constitution of India and also arbitrary, violating Art. 14.

It was further submitted that the order of the government was ''politically motivated'' and was passed as a knee-jerk response without making any investigation to verify the CSE report.

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