Supreme Court – Daily Orders
3S And Our Health Society vs Union Of India on 9 April, 2025
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ITEM NO.37 COURT NO.11 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(Civil) No.437/2024
3S AND OUR HEALTH SOCIETY Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
FOR ADMISSION
Date : 09-04-2025 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. MAHADEVAN
For Petitioner(s) :
Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, AOR
Mr. S.K. Sarkar, Adv.
Mr. Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Rishabh Jain, Adv.
For Respondent(s) :
Mr. Brijender Chahar, A.S.G.
Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR
Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv.
Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv.
Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Vaishnav Kriti Singh, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Hiroo Gursahani, Adv.
Mr. Suhaan Mukerji, Adv.
Mr. Adarsh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Sayandeep Pahari, Adv.
Mr. Tanmay Sinha, Adv.
For M/s. PLR Chambers And Co., AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1. This Writ Petition filed in public interest invoking Article
32 of the Constitution seeks the following reliefs:-
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
VISHAL ANAND
Date: 2025.04.11
(a) Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or
18:36:48 IST
Reason: Directions to the Union of India for taking cognizance and issuing
appropriate directions or making regulation for Front-of-Package
Warning Labels on Packaged Foods;and/or
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(b) Pass any other order(s) and/or direction(s), as this Hon’ble
Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the
present case.
2. The petitioner has appeared in-person.
3. Mr. Brijender Chahar, the learned Additional Solicitor General
appears for the Union of India.
4. Today, when the matter was taken up for further hearing, the
learned ASG invited our attention to the affidavit filed and duly
affirmed by Joint Director, Food Safety and Standards Authority of
India. The affidavit reads thus:-
“COUNTER AFFIDAVIT ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT No.2 & 4
That I, Permual Karthikeyan, S/o Shri R. Perumal aged about 53
years, presently working as Joint Director, Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India and having office situated at 3rd
floor and 4th Floor, FDA Bhawan Kotla Road, New Delhi 110002,
do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as follows:
1. It is submitted that an impleadment application was
filed by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and
vide Order dated 14.11.2024 the impleadment application
No. 241034 of 2024 was allowed and Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India (herein after refereed as
“FSSAI’) was impleaded as Respondent No.4.
2. That the deponent is fully conversant with the facts
and circumstances of the instant case and is duly
authorised to file this affidavit, which is based on the
records of this office.
3. That the deponent has read the contents of the present
Writ Petition under reply and I say that the petition
seeks the implementation of clear Front-of-Pack Warning
Labels on packaged food products to indicate levels of
sugars, salt and saturated fats.
4. That the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(hereinafter ‘Authority’) is the statutory body
established under Section 4 of the Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006 (hereinafter ‘FSSA, 2006’), an act
promulgated by the Parliament in 2006 for consolidating
laws relating to food and setting science-based standards
for food articles, and regulating their manufacture,
storage, distribution, sale and import. The applicant is
also entrusted with the function of ensuring availability
of safe and wholesome food fit for human consumption and
for dealing with any other matters connected therewith or
incidental to food safety. The Preamble of the Act reads
as under:
“An Act to consolidate the laws relating to food
and to establish the Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India for laying down science based
3standards for articles of food and to regulate
their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and
import, to ensure availability of safe and
wholesome food for human consumption and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
5. That Section 16 of the FSSA, 2006 specifies the duties
and functions entrusted with the aforementioned Authority.
That Section 16 (1) of the FSSA, 2006 binds the FSSAI to
regulate and monitor the distribution and sale of food to
ensure public health and safety While, Section 16(2)
empowers the Authority to set standards and guidelines in
relation to food articles, specifying the system for
enforcement of such standards, as well as the food
labelling standards.
6. That implementation of food labelling standards
including claims on health, nutrition, special dietary
uses and food category systems for foods falls within the
regulatory domain of FSSAI under Section 16 (2) (h) of FSS
Act, 2006 and regulation namely Food Safety and Standards
(Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 which was
notified on 17.11.2020.
7. It is submitted that FSSAI has proactively undertaken
measures to implement Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling
requirements and an amended draft was notified on
13.09.2022 in exercise of the powers conferred by clause
(k) of sub-section (2) of section 92 read with clause (h)
of sub-section (2) of section 16 and section 23 of the
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (34 of 2006) and made
available to the public for objections and suggestions, to
the proposed amendment in the FSS (Labelling and Display)
Regulations, 2020, which include the proposed Indian
Nutrition Rating (INR) for FOPNL. This format is in line
with global practices and adopts a star-rating system that
presents simplified nutrition information on the front-of-
pack of pre-packaged foods and provide information on the
overall nutritional value of the food and/or on nutrients
included in the FOPNL”. It is designed to provide
consumers with simplified, easy-to-understand information
on nutritional content, assisting them in making healthier
dietary choices.
8. It is submitted that the INR system uses a
straightforward, star-based rating scale from 0.5 to 5
stars, where a higher star rating indicates a healthier
product. This design aims to simplify the complex
nutritional content of packaged foods, enabling consumers
to assess products at a glance and encouraging healthier
dietary decisions. By presenting the rating on the front
of packages, INR allows consumers to compare the
nutritional quality of similar products easily, fostering
transparency and accessibility. The rating is based on
factors such as energy content, sugar, salt, saturated
fats and beneficial components like protein, fiber and
certain vitamins and minerals. The INR model integrates
both critical nutrients (such as added sugars, sodium, and
saturated fats) and positive components (like fiber,
protein, and certain legumes and nuts) in its scoring
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system. This balanced approach helps consumers understand
the over-all healthiness of a product, rather than
focusing solely on its negative aspects. The inclusion of
positive nutrients, however, is regulated through caps to
prevent nutritionally poor products from receiving
disproportionately high ratings simply due to small
amounts of positive ingredients. This structure ensures
that the rating accurately reflects the product’s true
health impact, preventing any potential manipulation of
ratings.
A true copy of Draft notification dated 13.09.2022 is
annexed herewith and marked as Annexure A.
9. It is submitted that over 14,000 comments were
received from the public stakeholders, including Food
Businesses, associations, Consumers, Consumer
organisations, Public Health Organisations and other
regulatory bodies as objections and suggestions against
the draft amendment notification dated 13.09.2022.
10. It is submitted that to analyse and address the
robust public feedback on the draft amendment
notification, FSSAI constituted an Expert Committee on
17th February 2023. This committee, comprising of experts
involved with FSSAI in developing FOPNL over the years,
conducted five meetings and carefully reviewed all
stakeholders comments. The expert committee in its 5th
meeting has prepared the report of its recommendation.
The report of the expert committee and the amended final
(draft) notification of FSS (Labelling and Display)
Amendment Regulations, 2022 will be submitted to the
Scientific Committee for further recommendation and
approval.
A true copy of Constitution of Expert Committee dated
17.02.2023 and subsequent extension dated 30.10.2023 are
annexed herewith and marked as Annexure В.
11. That after the approval from Scientific Committee and
proposal will be placed before the Food Authority for
final approval.”
5. In Para 9 of the reply, it has been stated that around 14000
comments were received in the form of objections, etc. from the
public including the stakeholders, etc.
6. The Union has decided to undertake necessary amendments in the
Food Safety and Standards (Labeling and Display) Amendment
Regulations, 2022.
7. We dispose of this Writ Petition with a direction to the
Expert Committee to prepare its recommendation and submit a Report
in that regard at the earliest so that relying on the report, the
necessary amendments can be given effect to.
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8. Let this exercise be taken within a period of three months
from today.
9. All pending applications, including application for
intervention, stand disposed of.
10. List the matter after three months before this Court to report
compliance of our directions.
(VISHAL ANAND) (POOJA SHARMA) ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)