HC lifts Kerala ban on Pepsi, Coca-Cola

Cola majors Coca Cola India and PepsiCo today got a major reprieve as a division bench of the Kerala High Court quashed the state government's order banning the sale and production of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Kerala.

But it might not be the end of the story, as a shaken state government reacted to the order saying it was exploring legal options to re-enforce the ban.

Allowing the pleas filed by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd and Pepsi India Holdings Private Ltd, seeking to quash the government order, the bench comprising Chief Justice V K Bali and Justice M Ramachandran ordered that the state government was not vested with powers under Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954, to ban the sale and production of food items in the state. The government's order was harsh, unreasonable and arbitrary, observed the bench.

The bench added that under Section 23 of the PFA Act, only the Union Government had the powers to ban food products, and that too for a short term. Under the Act, only the Maharashtra government had passed rules to impose such ban during the spread of epidemics, it observed.

The Kerala government had banned the sale and production of the products in August, under Section 7 of the PFA Act. The bench stated that the government had no authority to ban a product under the Act.

However, the bench did not comment on the allegations of the Cola companies against the political lobbying involved in the ban as CPI (M) was agitating against the Plachimada plant in Palakkad. district.

The HC order has come as a jolt to the state government prompting Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan to announce that the government would now look at legal measures to enforce the ban.

Terming the HC order as unfortunate, the chief minister said the government would file an appeal in the apex court in this regard. The Left unions too are gearing up for an agitation in the days to come to calling for enforcing the ban.

Expectedly, cola companies welcomed the order. A statement by Coca-Cola India said that the HC order "protects the interests of big and small retailers, local entrepreneurs and employees who have been affected by this illegal ban".

The company added that "it will immediately take necessary steps to make Coca-Cola available across the State of Kerala". PepsiCo India added that the order clearly validates its steadfast confidence in the quality and safety of its products.