Has No Sanction Of Law: Rajasthan HC Sets Aside Proceedings Initiated Under Prevention Of Food Adulteration Act After Its Repeal
Rajasthan High Court quashed and set aside proceedings that were initiated in 2011 under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (“PF Act”) which already got repealed in 2010 and was followed by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (“FSSA”).The bench of Justice Farjand Ali highlighted that even the cognizance of the offence was taken by Judicial Magistrate under the PF Act...
Rajasthan High Court quashed and set aside proceedings that were initiated in 2011 under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (“PF Act”) which already got repealed in 2010 and was followed by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (“FSSA”).
The bench of Justice Farjand Ali highlighted that even the cognizance of the offence was taken by Judicial Magistrate under the PF Act who did not bother to see whether the statute under which he was passing the order was even in force or not.
The Court was hearing a petition against the order of the Judicial Magistrate in which cognizance was taken under the PF Act pursuant to an inspection by the Food Inspector in 2011 followed by a complaint under Section 7/16 of the PF Act.
The Court opined that there was no dispute regarding the fact that the PF Act had no existence in 2011 when the proceedings were undertaken by the Food Inspector. The Court made a reference to Section 97 of the FSSA and held that,
“Section 97 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 saves only the circumstance where proceedings were pending and in that situation the cognizance was permitted to be taken within 3 years of the date of commencement of Act of 2006… as per Section 97(1) and the schedule appended to it, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act got repealed on the date 27.07.2010…”
In this background, it was held that the entire proceedings and taking cognizance of the same was beyond the jurisdiction and against the statutory provision, and the Court could not allow continuation of a judicial proceeding having no sanction of law.
Accordingly, the petition was allowed, and the proceedings were quashed and set aside, discharging the petition from the charge.
Title: Jugal Kishore & Ors. v State of Rajasthan and other connected petition
Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 50
Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Nishant Bora
Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Vikram Rajpurohit