The Delhi High Court rejected JNTL Consumer Health’s plea to sell its ORSL Electrolyte Drink, citing risk of misleading diarrhoea patients. The FSSAI ban and mandatory recall of the product remain in force, affecting nearly Rs 100 crore worth of stock.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant any temporary permission to JNTL Consumer Health, the Indian arm of American healthcare company Johnson & Johnson, to sell its remaining stock of ORSL Electrolyte Drink.
The sale of ORSL drinks was stopped after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a directive banning the sale of beverages that use misleading ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) labels. According to reports, the total value of the unsold ORSL stock is around Rs 100 crores.
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A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela dismissed JNTL’s plea for interim relief in its case against the FSSAI’s directives and the regulation requiring companies to recall such products from the market.
During the hearing, the Court said that there was a genuine risk that consumers, especially those suffering from diarrhoea, could be misled into thinking JNTL’s product was a medical ORS solution.
The Bench observed:
“A person suffering from diarrhoea, I am not saying this happens in every case. But ordinarily, people do not go to the doctors in cases of diarrhoea. What happens is that they generally go and buy ORS that balances the electrolytes. What you are writing on your drink is that it is an energy drink with electrolytes. There is every possibility of the person being misled.”
Earlier, a single-judge bench of the High Court had also refused to interfere with the FSSAI’s orders. That order came in response to a plea filed by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
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JNTL approached the High Court challenging the FSSAI orders dated October 14, 15, and 30. The company also questioned Regulation 5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Recall Procedure) Regulations, 2017, which deals with the mandatory recall of unsafe or misleading food products.
Appearing for JNTL, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sandeep Sethi argued that the company has been operating in the Indian market for over 20 years and there has never been any complaint that ORSL is an adulterated or unsafe product.
Rohatgi informed the Court that the company had already stopped manufacturing ORSL and planned to rebrand it soon.
He told the Bench:
“We are going to rebrand it. But I don’t want to lose Rs 100 crores worth of stock. It will be unfair to treat this as an adulterated drug.”
However, the Court was not convinced by these arguments and declined to grant any temporary relief, meaning the ban on the sale of ORSL drinks remains in place for now.
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On behalf of FSSAI, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Ashish Dixit, and advocate Aditya Singla represented the authorities during the hearing.
The Court’s refusal to pass interim orders is a major setback for JNTL Consumer Health, which now faces the challenge of dealing with nearly Rs 100 crores worth of unsold stock of ORSL drinks amid ongoing legal proceedings.
