'State govts not competent to ban food products'

Kozhikode, Sep 22: Stating that state governments were not competent enough to ban food products, Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithy (KVVES) today said the administration was in a hurry to ban cola products in the state without any legal support.

Reacting to the Kerala High Court judgment revoking the August ten order of the state government banning the production and sale of Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola in the state, KVVES President T Naseeruddin said only the Central Government was capable enough to ban a particular food item in the country under the Prevention of Food Adultueration Act (PFA).

Citing an example he said, the Supreme Court had earlier vacated an Andhra Pradesh High Court order banning Pan Parag in the state as it was null and void under the PFA.

But the Kerala Government, soon after assuming office, issued an order banning the products based merely on a report by the New Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment that the cola products contained pesticide residue.

Even the CSE laboratory, where the tests were conducted, had not fulfilled the required norms for carring out such exercises, he claimed.

It would have been better for the government to approch the Central Government after seeking legal advise before banning cola products in the state, he opined.

With the High Court setting aside the order banning the cola products, the traders would continue selling the products if the demand persisted, he added.

The petitioners submitted that political parties in the ruling LDF had carried out various agitations against the Cola companies and the LDF had made a recommendation on August 6 to ban the soft drinks on receiving the CSE report dated August 2. They contended the action of the government was ''mechanical and preconceived.'' The very fact the ban order was passed without waiting for the report of the central analyst showed the government acted with a pre-planned notion, they argeed.

During the arguments, the government shifted from its earlier stand. Initially, the government said that the ban order was passed under Section 7 (iv) of the PFA.

However, in the light of the Supreme Court verdict in the 'Pan Masala' case, the government submitted its ban order was in exercise of the powers under section 7 (i) and 7 (ii) of the PFA.

The government submitted before the court that the ban was taking into consideration public interest at large to protect the health of the citizens.

However, the Bench observed that if Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola were proved to be injurious to health, the Centre and other states also would have passed similar orders.

The state government also contended the analysis held at the Public Laboratory at Thiruvananthapuram confirmed the findings of the CSE report.

It also said that the samples has been sent to the Central Food Laboratory at Mysore and if its report was not the same as the CSE, the ban order would be lifted.

The court termed this stance of the government as ''surprising'' and observed the state government ought to have waited for the report of the central analyst before taking hasty action.

The stand of the government seemed to be unjustified when it issued the ban order without hearing the petitioner, the court said in its 90-page judgement.

UNI