The Bombay High Court on Monday directed Amazon Retail India to hand over all expired and perished goods at its Bhiwandi warehouse to the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for scientific disposal.
The direction came days after the court reprimanded the FDA over its action against the Amazon warehouse in Bhiwandi, Thane district.
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A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad also directed the FDA to file its affidavit in response to Amazon's plea by August 27. Amazon has challenged the suspension of its warehouse licence by the regulator.
The FDA had taken action against the facility over allegations that expired food products were sent into the retail market instead of being destroyed.
As a stopgap arrangement, the court on Monday said that the petitioner shall prepare an inventory of all its expired and perished items from this warehouse and hand them over to the concerned FDA officer.
The officer will then take steps, as mandated in law, to dispose of the items, it stated, adding that Amazon will have to bear the cost for the exercise.
According to the plea, FDA officers visited the warehouse on June 24 and suspended its licence the next day without issuing an improvement notice.
An appeal was then filed before the concerned authority. However, pending the appeal on July 1, the FDA issued a show-cause notice to the petitioner and then cancelled its licence.
The court had on Friday chided the FDA, saying the agency, while implementing its policy vigorously, was "trying to kill a mosquito with a sword", and advised it to act in a systematic way.
The agency has been in the news for a slew of raids on food establishments, including some famous eateries, since IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe was appointed at its helm in May.
(With PTI Inputs)
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