INTERNATIONAL BEST FOODS LIMITED Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners have filed the present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India for quashing of the complaint filed by the District Food Inspector, Ferozepur under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and the summoning order dated January 18, 1999. A further prayer has been made for quashing the report of the Public Analyst, Punjab, Bathinda dated November 3, 1997. Certain facts may be noticed.

(2.) PETITIONER No. 1-M/s. International Best Foods Limited is the manufacturing company, whereas petitioner No. 2 Murli Rao is the Regional Sales Manager of the aforesaid manufacturing company. It is the case of the petitioners that the petitioner company manufactured a product Glucovita- Glucose D, which is stated to be a special formulation of an energy drink/health food consisting of various ingredients mentioned on the label of the product. The aforesaid formulation is stated to be duly approved by the Health Department of the State of Maharashtra. On April 25, 1997 a Food Inspector visited two shops at Abohar namely, Parhlad Kumar, Ram Kishan and Sanjay General Food. The aforesaid product manufactured by the petitioner company was taken as a sample for testing by the Public Analyst, Punjab, Bathinda, who reported that the content of Glucose was found to be 97.4% on dry basis and opined that this was against the minimum requirement of 99%. On that basis, since the aforesaid sample was taken to be not as per the prescribed standards provided under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, the complaint was filed under the provisions of Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. A copy of the aforesaid complaint has been appended as Annexure P-5 with the petition. Upon the aforesaid complaint, the learned trial Magistrate passed an order dated January 18, 1999 summoning the petitioners.

(3.) I have heard Sh. Inderjit Kaushal, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sh. Sandeep Jain, learned Assistant Advocate General, for the State of Punjab.