Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday quashed the suspension of the food safety standards licence of a Navi Mumbai four-star hotel, Park Inn by Radisson, observing that a “solitary finding regarding the presence of two insects’’ when viewed against the overall “satisfactory” compliance report on hygiene, maintenance and operation did not justify the continued suspension of the licence.“We are in India we have to take realistic stand,’’ said acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge as he and Justice Gautam Ankhad were hearing the Navi Mumbai hotel matter.The ongoing FDA drive under its new commissioner, Tukaram Mundhe, recently shuttered the kitchens of a popular Udipi restaurant, Poornima, and the upper crust Cricket Club of India (CCI) in south Mumbai.On July 3, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), following a surprise inspection the previous day, immediately suspended in the public interest the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence of Park Inn by Radisson for reasons of “serious lapses in hygiene, sanitation, food storage and food handling practices”.The hotel, through its HR head, petitioned the high court on July 6 seeking the suspension be quashed and set aside. On July 17, the high court, on the hotel’s claim of compliance, directed an FDA panel to inspect and again on July 20 asked for a re-inspection of a certain portion.On July 22, the inspection report cited 95% compliance but pointed to “cockroach infestation’’ at a dishwasher and sweet preparation area.Hotel counsel Mayur Khandeparkar and advocate Sagar Shetty said that “mere presence of two insects is not a reason sufficient to place the establishment … under suspension’’, especially when all other compliances were met. They argued that the continued suspension was arbitrary. They offered undertakings to ensure and continue to maintain the highest standards of sanitation, hygiene and safety and strict compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, for food preparation, storage and service. The high court accepted the undertaking.The high court said that it was not going into the larger issue raised, that is, whether a 14-day improvement notice forms an indispensable pre-condition before directing immediate suspension. All such larger legal issues, the high court kept open. The high court warned the hotel that any breach of conditions shall entitle the FDA to take action.The high court asked government pleader Neha Bhide whether all eating houses and establishments in Maharashtra, including those eating houses which are operated by statutory authorities or state instrumentalities or semi-government establishments, had been inspected by the food and drugs department in the drive under the food safety law.Bhide informed the high court that by Friday “the court will be apprised of the details of inspections carried out all over the state of Maharashtra, including of any eating establishments operated by the government or semi-government institutions or on contract basis with any government department, et cetera”.The high court recorded its appreciation for the state and FDA actions in enforcing provisions of the food safety law.Bhide said the drive started by new FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe had led to improvements in food safety and hygiene across restaurants, which have a continuous duty to maintain the prescribed standards of hygiene and sanitation and any serious deviation from such standards warrants prompt regulatory intervention.The high court, disposing the petition, placed it for compliance on July 31.
