Patanjali official, 2 others jailed over failed food quality test
What's the story
An official from Patanjali, along with two others, has been sentenced to six months in jail after a sample of Patanjali Navratna Elaichi Soan Papdi failed to pass a quality test.
The District Food Safety Officer of Pithoragarh collected the samples from a shop in Berinag Market in September 2019 following concerns raised about the product's quality.
Lab results
Lab test reveals substandard quality of Patanjali sweet
The samples of the sweet were sent to a testing lab in Rudrapur for analysis.
The test results revealed that the product was substandard, leading the District Food Safety Officer to register cases against the three.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Pithoragarh, Sanjay Singh sentenced Abhishek Kumar, Patanjali assistant manager; Ajay Joshi, Assistant Manager of Kanha Ji Distributor Private Limited Ramnagar; and shopkeeper Leeladhar Pathak to six months imprisonment under Section 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
Penalties
Fines imposed on convicted Patanjali official and others
In addition to the jail sentence, the court also imposed fines on the accused. Patanjali Ayurveda Limited and Joshi were fined ₹10,000 each.
Kumar was asked to pay a fine of ₹25,000 while shopkeeper Pathak was fined ₹5,000.
The court further stated that if the accused fail to serve their sentences, they will face additional imprisonment ranging from seven days to six months.
License suspension
Supreme Court questions Patanjali over suspended licenses
In another recent development, the Supreme Court questioned Patanjali about the sale of its 14 products, whose manufacturing licenses were suspended by the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority last month.
Senior advocate Balbir Singh, representing Patanjali, confirmed to the apex court that they had stopped selling these products.
The court is now awaiting affidavits indicating the steps taken to recall advertisements for products whose licenses were suspended.