Nestle officials don’t appear in court; next hearing on March 17
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, January 6
Nestle India officials, who had been summoned by a Rohtak court in a case pertaining to alleged violations of the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, did not appear in the court today.
The court fixed the next date of hearing in the case on March 17.
On October 28, 2014, the court of Rohtak Chief Judicial Magistrate Lokesh Gupta had summoned three Nestle India officials and a distributor. They were told to appear in the court on January 6.
Those summoned included Indranil Ray, quality assurance manager, Nestle India Ltd, Samalakha, Panipat; B.Murli, company secretary, Nestle House, Gurgaon; Dharmendra Hansraj Kotak, sales manager, Nestle India Ltd, Connaught Circus, New Delhi; and Jai Prakash Gupta, M/s Sat Narain and Co., Rohtak.
The CJM issued the orders on hearing a criminal complaint filed by the Deputy Civil Surgeon (Health), Rohtak, under the Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 1992, as amended in 2003 (IMS Act).
The complainant had submitted that provisions contained in Sections 3 and 6 of the IMS Act had been violated by thecompany.
Complainant’s counsel HC Dhankhar pointed out that a team comprising Dr Amarjeet Singh, Deputy Civil Surgeon (Health), Dr Kuldeep Singh, Deputy Civil Surgeon (Family Welfare), and Manmohan Taneja, Senior Drug Control Officer, Rohtak zone, raided M/s Sat Narain and Co., New Grain Market, Rohtak, on July 13, 2012. Three of the infant milk substitutes found stocked at the aforesaid premises were seized for contravening the IMS Act.
“These three Nestle products, including Pre Nan, Nan Pro and Lactogen 1, are so labelled as to promote and advertise infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles etc and have pictures/graphics etc to undermine breastfeeding,” the complaint maintains, adding that these were contravened Sections 3 and 6 of the Act.
The complaint further maintained that as per the IMS Act, the label should mention only the ingredients used, and not the properties and benefits of the ingredients. But the Nestle cartons/boxes prominently mention the properties and benefits of ingredients, which is a violation of Section 6 of the IMS Act.
