APURVA VINAYKANTH CHAVDA Vs. STATE OF A.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Criminal Petitions, under Sec. 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short "the BNSS"), have been filed by various accused in Crime No.470 of 2024 of Tirupati East Police Station to grant bail to them in the said crime.

(2.) Basing on a report dtd. 25/9/2024 lodged by the General Manager (Procurement), T.T. Devasthanams, Tirupati ("the informant"), the aforesaid crime was registered for the offences under Ss. 274, 275, 316 (5), 318 (3), 318 (4), 61 (2) and 299 read with 49 read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for brevity "BNS") and Ss. 51 and 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act, 2006), by the Sub Inspector of Police, East police station, Tirupati, against M/s.A.R.Dairy Foods Private Limited, Dindigal, Tamilnadu and others.

(3.) The allegations in the report dtd. 25/9/2024 lodged by the informant, in brief, are as follows. In view of various complaints received from pilgrims on the quality of Laddu Prasadam, the cow ghee procurement process and the quality issues were reviewed in depth, wherein several issues affecting the quality of Laddu Prasadams, were noticed. TTD warned all the suppliers to improve quality of ghee supplied that the sub-standard stocks would be tested outside labs for adulteration and the firm would be blacklisted with suitable penalties if the tests indicate adulteration. Pursuant to the same, all other firms improved the quality of ghee, except M/s. A.R. Dairy Foods Private Limited, Dindigal, Tamilnadu. Supply order was issued in favour of the said firm on 15/5/2024 for supply of 10 lakhs KGs of cow ghee within 1500 KMs radius from Tirumala, and its price of Rs.319.80 ps appears to be unviable and unreasonable for supplying pure ghee. The company supplied four tankers of ghee on 12/6/2024, 20/6/2024, 25/6/2024 and 4/7/2024 respectively, and the same were accepted with the earlier procedure of testing which does not include adulteration testing. Thereafter, a decision was taken to utilize services of outside NABL accredited lab for testing adulteration by tying up with NDDB, CALF Lab, Anand, Gujarat for enforcing quality as per tender conditions, which is for the first time in the TTD. Accordingly, samples were collected from the aforesaid four tankers and sent to NDDB CALF Limited, Anand, confidentially for testing the quality. The testing reports were received on 16/7/2024 and 23/7/2024, wherein it was noticed that there is high level of adulteration of ghee supplied. According to the report, all the samples have vegetable and animal fat based adulterants including LARD. Show-cause notices were issued to the said company and a reply was submitted by the said company to the said show-cause notice. TTD purchases ghee for preparation of Swamivari Laddu and other Prasadams as per the Dittam, and expect values, quality and authenticity, and in view of the above, TTD was disheartened to discover that the ghee supplied by the said company recently did not meet the expected standards. Quality of ghee affects both health and religious sentiments and beliefs of the devotees of Lord Sri Venkateswara. TTD was made to believe by the company that strict quality control measures were maintained by it to ensure that their products meet safety and quality standards, but the results of the samples which were tested were otherwise. The S Value for the sample, as per the report dtd. 12/7/2024 given by the NDDB Calf Limited, Gujarat is substantially low as compared to the Standard S Value limits as per the method. The company violated the agreement clauses and committed cheating by adulterating ghee. It quoted lowest price for cow ghee and thereby induced TTD to award the Order for 10 lakhs KGs of ghee with them, and it supplied the sub-standard and adulterated ghee to have wrongful gain and deceived TTD and the devotees. It also committed breach of trust due to failure of supply of pure cow ghee by violating the promise made by it as per the agreement terms and conditions, and also committed the offences under the FSS Act 2006. The adulteration of ghee is nothing but a criminal conspiracy between the supplier and some vested interests. In view of the spread of the news all over India, there are lot of debates and dialogue war between different groups of media which is likely to disturb public tranquility. The ghee was supplied by the supplier without observing the safety standards and liability of the manufacturer and hence by supplying the same, the supplier violated penal Ss. 51 and 59 of the FSS Act, 2006. Hence, it was requested to conduct investigation and take appropriation action as per law.