
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the central government on a plea of Nestle India to stay the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order for fresh testing of samples of its popular snack Maggi noodles.
A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra issued a notice to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on an appeal by Nestle against the directive issued by the NCDRC on December 10. The apex consumer body had directed that 16 samples of Maggi ought to be tested afresh.
The bench will hear the case on Wednesday again since it breaks into winter vacation from Thursday while the fresh testing has to be done immediately.
The Centre has filed a class-action suit against Nestle before the NCDRC, alleging unfair trade practices, false labelling and misleading advertisements by the firm. It has sought Rs 640 crore in damages.
This bench is separately hearing food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s appeal against the Bombay High Court order of lifting the ban on the manufacturing and sale of Maggi in India. Last week, the court had asked Nestle to submit its response by January 5.
In August, the High Court had quashed the orders of FSSAI and Maharashtra food regulator FDA, which had banned nine variants of Maggi noodles.
The High Court had allowed Nestle to go in for fresh testing of five samples of each variant of the noodles at three independent laboratories accredited with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.