JUDGMENT

K. S. Radhakrishnan, J.

1. The writ petition was preferred for constituting an independent Expert/Technical Committee to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks on human health, particularly on the health of the children, and also for a direction to respondent No. 1 – Union of India – to put in place a regulatory regime which could control and check the contents in a particular chemical additive in foods, including soft drinks. Further, direction was also sought for against respondent no. 1 to make it mandatory for the soft drinks manufacturers to disclose the contents and their specific quantity on the labels of soft drinks, including appropriate warnings, qua a particular ingredient, and its harmful effects on the people. Petitioner has also sought for a direction to respondent no. 1 to check and control the misleading advertising of soft drinks, particularly advertisements targeted at children, unwary uneducated and illiterate people.

2. The Union of India and other respondents have maintained the stand that the Food Supply and Standards Act, 2006 (the FSS Act), along with its Rules and Regulations framed thereunder, constitute a vigorous regulatory regime, which take