The Bombay High Court warned food officials, leading to a license suspension withdrawal. Restaurants on Mumbai Cricket Association premises will now reopen their services. A recent inspection confirmed 88 percent compliance with food safety rules. The court criticized the FDA for a pedantic rather than pragmatic view. Officials faced potential contempt action for disobeying court orders.
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday said it would withdraw its order suspending the licences of five restaurants operating on the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) premises, after the Bombay High Court warned of stinging orders against officials for taking a "pedantic instead of pragmatic view" of the situation.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad vacated the suspension after a fresh inspection report submitted by the FDA confirmed that the eateries, located in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) area, were 88 per cent compliant with food safety rules.
The five outlets involved are Permit Room, Pavilion, Mediterranean, Oriental Swing, and Clubway & Pastry Counter, all located inside MCA's Sharad Pawar Indoor Cricket Academy premises, which were inspected on August 20, with suspension orders issued the following day. The FDA had flagged issues including poor refrigeration, unhygienic food handling and storage, inadequate temperature control and sanitation lapses.
The MCA had approached the high court challenging the FDA's decision to suspend operations over alleged hygiene violations and third-party operational irregularities. Although a fresh inspection carried out on Thursday showed 88 per cent compliance, the FDA had initially maintained the suspension because the eateries were being operated by M/s Shirke Infrastructure despite the licences being registered in the MCA's name.
The FDA on Saturday informed the court that it would issue a fresh notice to the MCA, and grant them a hearing on the issue of its contract with Shirke Infrastructure before passing a reasoned order.
The court accepted this and said since the eateries are now compliant with the rules, the order suspending their licences stands vacated, and they can reopen their services. There is no provision in the law that prohibits the same, the bench noted, pointing out that during the last hearing it had specifically asked FDA officials to apply their minds and take a pragmatic view of the situation.
"However, despite clearly saying this, the FDA has disobeyed our order and taken a pedantic view instead of a pragmatic view. We are tired of scolding the department and officers all the time. It is now time to pass stinging orders. We will issue contempt action against the concerned officers. Let them convince us or go to jail," the court said.
The bench questioned why the FDA was always in "undue haste" and passed orders without analysing the law. "How many times should we try to convince and balance equities so that the department does not feel discouraged? Why do we say don't kill a mosquito with a sword? Do you feel you are a lord and you can do anything?" the HC questioned.
Pursuant to the court's remarks, additional government pleader P P Kakade submitted that the FDA would withdraw its order suspending the licences of the five eateries. The court disposed of the petitions on Saturday.
The case has been running through the Bombay High Court for over a week. The suspension orders for the five outlets were issued on August 21, a day after an inspection flagged violations in their operations. On August 25, the court had first directed a fresh inspection, and in the interim permitted the eateries to operate automated tea and coffee vending machines with minimal human intervention.
The court had at the time also raised concerns over the FDA's inspection report for using the term "partial compliance" without specific numerical scores or details of the deficiencies found.
The MCA crackdown is part of a larger enforcement push by the regulator. The action is part of a wider Maharashtra food-safety drive in which the FDA inspected 45 hotels, restaurants, eateries and dhabas, conducted 25 raids and issued improvement notices to 33 establishments, with 11 food establishments having their licences suspended during the drive.
With inputs from PTI
