Month into special drive, FDA's case backlog 10% lighter

With an aim to dispose of pending court cases related to food safety, which are more than 20 years old, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department had requested the Bombay High Court to order the lower courts to hear them. Of the 3,000 pending cases, 10 per cent have been disposed of while the other cases are still going on.

The FDA's special drive initiative was to clear off the cases under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 which have been pending for over a decade. The cases are heard in the local courts of various districts in the state.

As per the law, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 was replaced by the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 which was implemented in 2011.

CD Salunke, FDA Joint Commissioner (food) explained, "Over 300 cases were disposed of in February. We are yet to get the files on the cases which were disposed of in March. So far, at least 10 to 20 per cent of the cases have been disposed of since the special drive began in February. This fast-track initiative has helped to decrease the number of pending cases. A majority of the cases disposed of are from Nashik district."

The cases under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 are mostly related to section 16 of the Act which deals with misbranding and substandard issues to name a few.

FAST TRACK DRIVE

• The FDA’s special drive was to clear off pending cases under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954.
   
• 3,000 cases are pending since 20 years. 300 were cleared in February.