As per a recent Supreme Court judgment when an accused is charged with food adulteration under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC"), and Food Safety and Standards Act FSSA, them the proceedings cannot continue under the IPC due to the overriding effect of Section 89 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 ("FSSA").
With this, SC overturned the judgment of the High Court, wherein it refused to dismiss the criminal charges against the accused. Court noted that simultaneous prosecution under the IPC and FSSA is not allowed. This is because Section 89 of the FSSA takes precedence over the provisions of Sections 272 and 273 of the IPC.
The Supreme Court further stated that when the accused is charged with crimes under Sections 272 and 273 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), offence under Section 59 of the FSSA is also attracted.
The issue in the present case arose after a First Information Report was lodged by a food inspector against the petitioner alleging the commission of offences under Sections 272 and 273 of the IPC. The allegation was that, the appellant did not possess a licence to sell the commodity of mustard oil, but he continued to sell the same. Another allegation was that the petitioner had adulterated the mustard oil, edible oil and rice brine oil. The accused approached the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the FIR, however, the High Court refused to quash the FIR, hence the present criminal appeal before the Supreme Court.
The supreme court accepted the submissions made by the appellanta nd held that by virtue of Section 89 of the FSSA, Section 59 will override the provisions of Sections 272 and 273 of the IPC.
Court further accepted that the title of FSSA suggests that the FSSA is meant to have a major impact on all laws related to food. However, in the main section, there is no specific limitation to only food-related laws. It states that the rules of the FSSA will still be valid even if they conflict with any other current law.
In light of the argument advanced by the contending parties, the Supreme Court quashed the pending criminal case against the appellant accused under IPC and gave the option to the concerned authorities to initiate proceedings against the appellant under FSSA for offences punishable under Section 59 of the FSSA.