Shimla: The High Court provided a breather to plastic packaging of 25 food items, categorized as junk food, till 19 November, something that the state has banned after 1 July, 2013 on court orders.
The division bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Rajiv Sharma today extended the stay on the 26th June notification about banning the contentious food items in plastic packaging and granted further time to the central government to file its reply in the case.
On court orders, the state government had banned stocking and sale of junk food items such as chips, kurkure, biscuits etc. in plastic and non-biodegradable packaging from July 1, 2013.
The judges extended the stay on the petitions of Sanyukt Vyapar Mandal Khalini, Indian Biscuits Manufacturers Association NOIDA and Haroli Block Industries Associations, Tahliwal Una.
Earlier, the court had stayed the matter till September 3 that expired on today.
On 10th January, 2013, the court had directed the state to ban the said items in plastic packaging from 1stApril, but had extended the time limit to implement the orders for three months on the state request which had cited far reaching consequences on multiple stake holders.
The government had pleaded that additional time was required to evaluate the possible consequences that may arise as a result of ban on sale of identified food items and the aspects with respect to relocation of workers, the status of loans obtained by local units, machinery and infrastructure etc.
It had submitted before the court that the immediate impact of ban will be on 6000 workers directly employed in 270 local units manufacturing products.
With the time limit granted by the court having expired on June 30 and the state had ordered banning the said 25 food items in plastic packaging from 1 July.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
