Yes, a bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah could not believe the information stated in a PIL seeking direction to the authorities to rein in the adulterators in the capital city.
Expressing its concern over the information, a bench of Justice Shah and Justice Manmohan issued notice to the Delhi government and the Delhi Police Commissioner to file their reply to the allegation in the petition by August 26, the next date of hearing.
In a petition, Salek Chand Jain said: “Fat from abdominal cavity and other parts of the body of dead animals are in greater demand for manufacturing ‘desi ghee’ in and around Delhi.’’
It is an admitted fact that fat from dead animals are taken out and sold at a rate of Rs 20 per kg to prepare ‘desi ghee’ of popular brands. Atleast 200 animals such as stray cows, buffaloes, horses, donkeys and other animals die in Delhi everyday, said the petition filed by advocates Sugriva Dubey and Namita Roy.
Synthetic milk made out of chemicals such as urea is brought from Uttar Pradesh and other neighbouring states between 5 am and 7 am for distribution to various shops. “Synthetic milk is manufactured out of milk and detergent,’’ said the petition.
In Delhi alone, sub-standard drugs of more than Rs 400 crore are sold every year. There are thousands of medicine packaging and printing machines that are working throughout Delhi, said Dubey.
Despite adulterated food products and medicines being blatantly sold in the market, the Delhi government had no sufficient staff to check them.
The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act says that a person or shop keeper could be sent to jail for 6 months to life term for selling adulterated food products or medicines, but there is no conviction in the past two years.
The petition has sought direction to the government for establishment of more food testing laboratories and appointment of more food inspectors for checking sale of adulterated food and medicine. Delhi has only 37 laboratories of which only seven are functional and with only 27 food inspectors to manage thousands of shops, restaurants and medicine stores.
