- (1.) The writ petition was preferred for constituting an independent Expert/Technical Committee to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of the children, and also for a direction to respondent No. 1 Union of India to put in place a regulatory regime which could control and check the contents in a particular chemical additive in foods, including soft drinks. Further, direction was also sought for against respondent no. 1 to make it mandatory for the soft drinks manufacturers to disclose the contents and their specific quantity on the labels of soft drinks, including appropriate warnings, qua a particular ingredient, and its harmful effects on the people. Petitioner has also sought for a direction to respondent no. 1 to check and control the misleading advertising of soft drinks, particularly advertisements targeted at children, unwary uneducated and illiterate people.
(2.) The Union of India and other respondents have maintained the stand that the Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006 (the FSS Act), along with its Rules and Regulations framed thereunder, constitute a vigorous regulatory regime, which takes care of all the above mentioned situations and provisions of the FSS Act and the Rules and Regulations are being enforced scrupulously and meticulously. Over and above, it was pointed, in pursuance to the orders passed by this Court on 8.2.2011 and 15.4.2011, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (for short "the Food Authority") examined the various grievances raised by the petitioner and passed the order on 12.9.2012. The findings recorded in the order dated 12.9.2012 passed by the Food Authority would allay all the fears and apprehensions raised by the writ petitioner and in any view the same could be taken care of by the authorities functioning under the provisions of the FSS Act as well as the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder. Further, it was also pointed out that if the petitioner or any other citizen has any grievance, he can always approach the statutory authorities functioning under the FSS Act and, hence, no further directions are called for from this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
(3.) We have gone through the various provisions of the FSS Act, the Food Safety and the Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Rules framed thereunder, etc. In our view, by and large, the various grievances raised by the petitioner are seen covered by the above mentioned legislations, but the question is only with regard to their enforcement by the authorities functioning under these legislations.;