|
|
|
SC revives Centre's Rs. 640 crore class action against Nestle in Maggi noodles case
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 04 Jan, 2019
The Supreme Court on Thursday vacated its stay on the Centre's 2015
action seeking damages of Rs 640 crore from Nestle India limited - the
manufacturer of Maggi noodles - for alleged unfair trade practices,
false labelling and misleading advertisements.
The class action
is rooted in the case of alleged high lead content and presence of MSG
(monosodium glutamate) in Nestle's popular Maggi instant noodles.
The
bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud today vacated the stay of the
proceedings before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
(NCDRC) that were stayed way back in 2015 as the top court then was
seized of the matter.
While vacating the stay on the proceedings
on the class action by the Centre seeking damages of Rs. 640 crores, the
court said the report of the Mysuru-based Central Food Technological
Research Institute where the samples of Maggi noodles were tested would
form the basis of the proceedings.
The court asked the Centre,
the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Nestle and
others to argue before the NCDRC whether the consumers were misled by
the company as contended by the Centre in its class action.
The
Supreme Court had in 2015 put on hold proceedings before the NCDRC after
Nestle moved the top court challenging the commission's order directing
the testing of 16 samples of Meggi noodles to ascertain their safety
for consumption.
The NCDRC had ordered the testing of the Maggie
noodles in the course of the hearing of the Central government's class
action against Nestle India, the manufacturer of Maggi noodles, seeking
Rs 640 crore in damages for alleged unfair trade practices, false
labelling and misleading advertisements.
The Commission had
directed that out of withdrawn stocks of Maggi noodles in the custody of
the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (of which 100 batch
numbers were randomly noted by the local commissioner) 16 samples be
sent for testing for presence of lead in any form and of MSG, including
their quantity in the samples at the Export Inspection Council of India,
Chennai.
Appearing for Nestle, senior counsel Abhishek Manu SinghviA said, "The lead content was found to be within permissible limit and there is some amount of lead in lot of products."
Senior
counsel told the court that the Mysuru-based Central Food Technological
Research Institute has given the finding that the noodles contained
lead "within permissible limits".
However, the Centre contended
that the main issue in the class action was not whether noodles were
harmful or not, but the company misled the consumers by alleged unfair
trade practices, false labelling and misleading advertisements.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|