HC refuses to quash proceedings against Hindustan Coca-Cola over sale of ‘adulterated’ beverage

The Bombay High Court has refused to quash proceedings initiated against Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited by a magistrate’s court in Maharashtra’s Jalna district over the alleged sale of adulterated beverages.

During an inspection of the company’s product ‘Canada Dry’, a sweetened carbonated drink, in 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Jalna district had found some fibrous substance and cobwebs inside the sealed bottles.

A stock of 321 bottles of ‘Canada Dry’ with an expiry date of December 12, 2001, was seized on July 27, 2001. After testing, a complaint was lodged against the company before the magistrate’s court in Jalna for alleged contravention of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

In March 2010, the magistrate issued a notice to the company. The company, the India bottling business of global beverage major Coca-Cola, then moved the HC seeking quashing of the complaint and the notice.

The company in its plea claimed that there was a delay in lodging the complaint.

Justice Y G Khobragade of the Aurangabad bench of the HC on December 11 this year declined to grant relief, holding that the beverage maker had not made out any ground for the proceedings to be quashed.

After the pronouncement of the order, Hindustan Coca-Cola sought the extension of an earlier order granting an interim stay on criminal proceedings for another eight weeks.

However, the bench refused to extend it, allowing criminal proceedings against the company, stalled for around 14 years, to continue.