The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant urgent relief to a restaurant whose licence was suspended by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration for allegedly serving banned analogue paneer, with the Bench remarking that the establishment should “suffer” temporarily after making customers consume a product without adequately informing them about what they were being served.
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam A Ankhad was hearing a petition filed by Udupi Swaad Restaurant challenging the suspension of its licence. The Court questioned whether customers had been explicitly informed that the establishment was serving analogue paneer rather than conventional dairy paneer and made it clear that synthetic substitutes could not be passed off as the original product.
Court questions disclosure
The FDA had suspended the restaurant’s licence on August 10 after a paneer sample was declared unsafe and substandard. The action was also based on an order issued by Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe prohibiting analogue or synthetic paneer across the State for one year.
During the hearing, the Bench questioned whether the restaurant’s menu or signboard clearly disclosed that customers were being served analogue paneer. It observed that consumers had a right to know what they were eating and could not be expected to discover after being served that the product was different from what they had ordered.
The Court also remarked that spices and masala could make it difficult for customers to immediately identify the nature or quality of the product being served. The restaurant subsequently assured the Bench that it would stop using analogue paneer with immediate effect.
Restaurant challenges suspension
The restaurant argued that the FDA had failed to issue the mandatory improvement notice contemplated under the Food Safety and Standards Act before suspending its licence. It also told the Court that the abrupt closure had caused substantial financial losses and damaged its reputation.
Seeking an immediate stay on the suspension, the establishment urged the Court to allow it to resume operations while its challenge was being considered. The Bench, however, declined to intervene at this stage and decided to first hear the FDA’s response.
In a sharp observation, Acting Chief Justice Ghuge described the situation as “poetic justice”, saying the restaurant would have to bear the consequences temporarily while the authorities filed their reply. The Court also suggested that consumers affected by such practices could approach the appropriate consumer forum seeking compensation.
FDA reply awaited
The FDA defended its decision to suspend the licence and relied upon the State-wide prohibition on analogue paneer. The dispute will now turn partly on whether the regulatory action complied with the procedure prescribed under food safety law and whether the restaurant violated applicable standards while serving the product.
The High Court directed the FDA to submit its reply by September 2. The case is scheduled to be heard again on September 7.
Until then, the restaurant will receive no interim protection from the suspension. The Court’s observations also placed the larger issue of transparency at the centre of the dispute, stressing that restaurants must clearly tell consumers when substitutes are being used instead of the food product they believe they are ordering.