New Delhi: In a big transfer on public well being and food safety regulation, the Supreme Court has requested the Centre, the Food Safety and Requirements Authority of India and the Comptroller and Auditor Common of India to elucidate why a nationwide efficiency audit of the implementation of food safety regime, together with licensing and registration processes, should not be performed.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta sought responses from the ministries of well being and household welfare and shopper affairs, food and public distribution, amongst others, on a public curiosity litigation difficult the enforcement framework beneath the Food Safety and Requirements Act, 2006.
The matter assumes significance amid rising considerations over food adulteration, deceptive labelling, unsafe packaging and weak enforcement of food safety requirements throughout the nation. The PIL raises broader questions on institutional accountability, public well being safety and effectiveness of food safety regulatory framework.
The petition, filed by public well being advocate Aniruddha Narayan Malpani, flagged regulatory and enforcement failures beneath the Act, together with insufficient penal framework, scarcity of food safety officers, weak lab infrastructure, delays in adjudication, non-recovery of penalties and widespread licensing irregularities.
The petitioner alleged the framework prescribes mounted and insufficient penalties that fail to create an efficient deterrent towards violations by massive food operators.
Malpani urged the courtroom to direct that penalties for food enterprise operators be linked to turnover as a substitute of capped fines, arguing that such a framework would guarantee penalties are proportionate to the dimensions of operations and the gravity of violations. The petition, filed by means of counsel Ashwarya Sinha, additionally sought the creation of a devoted digital platform for residents to report food safety violations.
The PIL cited CAG’s 2017 report, which highlighted deficiencies in implementation of the Act, together with shortages of food safety officers, non-functional laboratories, incomplete testing of food samples, issuance of licences with out verification, adjudication delays and weak enforcement mechanisms.
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