Top court directs the NCDRC to continue with the three-year-old government suit against Maggie.

On April 11, 2016, the NABL-accredited CFTRI forwarded its test results to the apex court stating that 29 tested samples of Maggie showed lead levels within permissible levels.
Top court directs the NCDRC to continue with the three-year-old government suit against Maggie.

Even though Nestle India's legal woe theatrical a return yesterday with the Supreme Court energizing the government case against its popular product Maggie, the FMCG major welcomed the court's order to continue with a three-year-old suit only on the basis of laboratory test reports by the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI).

The top court was investigating a case filed by the company against two provisional orders passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in the outfit slapped on Nestle India by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The suit seeks damages of Rs 640 crore alleging unfair trade practices, false labeling and ambiguous advertisements by Maggie.

The government had moved NCDRC after Maggie was barred by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in June 2015 for supposedly containing lead beyond allowable limits as well as the presence of monosodium glutamate (MSG), forcing Nestle to remove the product from the market. Six months later the Supreme Court had stayed the procedures before the NCDRC and heading for the CFTRI to place its test report before it.

On April 11, 2016, the NABL-accredited CFTRI forward its test results to the apex court state that 29 tested samples of Maggie showed lead levels within allowable levels, as senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Nestle India, remind the top court yesterday.

But the presence of metal itself was red-flagged by the bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta. "Why should we be eating Maggie with lead in it?" the former asked Singhvi, who replied that there was some amount of lead in various other products.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for Centre said that in the wake of the Mysuru lab report, the matter should go back to NCDRC and the stay on the proceedings should be vacated.

However, Singhvi conflicting sending the matter back to NCDRC saying the matter had now become infructuous as the lab report was in Nestle India's favor and attendance of taste enhancer MSG was not found.

The bench eventually decided not to "pre-empt the jurisdiction" of the NCDRC. "We will send the lab reports to the commission and them ask to dispose of the grievance filed before it," the bench said adding that the appeal against the Bombay High Court order that had quashed the FSSAI ban order against Maggie in 2015 will be heard at a later stage.

The top court further directed that the CFTRI report would form the basis for the procedures before the NCDRC. "All the rights and contention of the parties will remain open," the bench added.

"Nestle India welcomes the orders passed by the Supreme Court in Maggie Noodles matter," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

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