Cola row: Kerala govt to move SC

New Delhi: Kerala's Left Democratic Front government will approach the Supreme Court against the High Court order quashing the ban on production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state, Law minister M Vijayakumar said on Saturday.

Terming the High Court verdict as "mysterious", Vijayakumar said State Government had banned the soft drinks under rule 7(1) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

On Friday, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court quashed the state government orders banning the manufacture and sale of the colas, saying that the Government had no power to pass such orders under the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

Vijayakumar said the state government took decision as per law and there was no "failure on its part in arguing the case effectively in the High Court.

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice, V K Bali, and Justice M Ramachandran, quashed the orders while allowing the writ petitions filed by the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Ltd and PepsiCo India Holdings Private Ltd challenging the ban orders.

The judge said the report, from the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment could not be the basis for the ban.

The judges found merit in the companies’ arguments that the government had not independently verified the quality of the products before imposing the ban, that it had merely relied on an NGO.

“The order of Kerala government was based on the CSE report which the High Court does not rely upon,” Bali said.

Late last month, Union Health Ministry had attacked the CSE’s claims, arguing the body did not provide “conclusive evidence” to back up its allegations.

However, a number of states refused to lift their bans on Coke and Pepsi products.

In the aftermath of the report, seven states brought in at least partial bans with Kerala the only state to impose an outright ban.

Since the CSE report was published, Coke and Pepsi have insisted their products were safe to drink. Pepsi embarked on an ad campaign to convince Indian consumers of the safety of its products.

Pepsi even reportedly aired a TV ad featuring the head of its local operations defending its products.