ORDER

A. P. SAHI, J (PRESIDENT)

1.      Espousing the cause of the Indian population comprising  of millions of consumers, the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India has stepped out to institute this Complaint under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 urging that the express misrepresentation, deceptive activities and utilisation of possibly hazardous substances in its products, the Opposite Party has indulged in the manufacturing and selling of its products which is not only unsafe from the point of view of the health of the citizens of this country, but is also a violation of the laws that are structured to protect consumers.  The prayer is to prevent the OP from undertaking any unwanted or undesirable manufacturing activity of a commodity that is likely to jeopardize the general health conditions of the citizenry, who on extensive scale consume the products of the Opposite Party, namely, Maggi Masala Noodles with tastemaker, Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with alleged tastemaker and other variants with the alleged deceptive labelling of the product by reciting "No Added MSG" on such products.

2.      The nature of the allegations made in the larger interest of consumers alleging deficiencies on the shortcomings have given rise to this Complaint lodged by the Sovereign Union Government of this country contending that the Opposite Party M/s Nestle India Limited is a subsidiary of Nestle S. A. of Switzerland and is engaged in the business of manufacturing and sale of food products in India. Maggi noodles and its variants are the products that are presently in question which according to the pleadings is consumed by a large population especially appealing to children.

3.      The present Complaint is one of the pioneering efforts undertaken by the Government of India to secure the rights of the consumers in this country in order to avoid any adverse effects on the health of the consumers and at the same time prevent the carrying on of any such manufacturing activity of a food commodity which according to the Complainant is adverse to the well-being and health of the population of this country. The contention is that neither the product is healthy nor safe and therefore it cannot be treated as an enjoyable product which the population at large has been led to believe through deceptive labelling and misrepresentation. In essence the argument is that the products advertised, marketed and sold by the Opposite Party presently in question is no longer a fun food and is rather a hazardous food stuff that has been misbranded alluring the consumers, particularly children who having consumed the said product on being deceptively led to believe that the product is healthy and safe.

4.      The background in which this entire controversy seems to have gained importance arose out of guidelines that issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Government of India dated 11.05.2013  i.e. extracted hereinunder :

“Subject: Guidelines to be followed for product approval procedure

Advisories relating to procedure for obtaining Product Approval (PA) from FSSAI have earlier been issued including their hosting on the FSSAI website. Feedback on the same has been received from various stakeholders regarding the complexity and time lines for product approval. Therefore, to streamline the product approval procedure with due consideration to the safety of food and public health, in supersession of earlier advisories, food products for which the standards are not specified under FSS Act 2006, Rules & Regulations made thereunder will be granted product approval. The following procedure shall come into force with immediate effect,

1 (a) Food products where the safety of its ingredients present are known and are permitted under FSS Regulation, 2011/Codex and other regulatory bodies like EU/FSANZ/USFDA etc. and the food product does not contain plants or botanicals or substances from animal ori