The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Food Safety Commissioner to ensure that WhatsApp complaint numbers, phone numbers and e-mail IDs of the officials concerned were displayed prominently outside every restaurant, eatery, provision store and other establishments dealing with food items.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam ordered that time limits should be prescribed for officials to take action against complaints received from the consumers and they must be instructed to initiate prosecution against the offenders. Officers who fail to take prompt action on the complaints must be subjected to disciplinary proceedings.
The Commissioner was also directed to create awareness among the people regarding the ill consequences of consuming adulterated food and their right to lodge complaints with the food safety officials. The directions were issued while rejecting a plea made by a dhania (coriander) trader.
The trader had approached the court against action initiated against him for selling adulterated dhania, which was found to contain chemicals above the prescribed limits. Shocked over adulteration in an essential ingredient of Indian cuisine, the judge called for data regarding prosecution initiated for food adulteration. He found that the officials only make random inspection, and there was no mechanism in place for consumers to access phone numbers of officers and lodge complaints immediately. Therefore, he ordered that the complaint mechanism should be made effective and promoted widely.
