Acting tough against Nestle India, the government on Tuesday filed a class action suit against the Swiss manufacturer of Maggi noodles, seeking about Rs 640 crore in damages for alleged unfair trade practices, false labelling and misleading advertisements.
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Goa’s Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) said it had sent Maggi samples to a government-approved laboratory for testing in June and the results showed the snack complies with food safety standards.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry will file a complaint with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) using a provision in the three decade old Consumer Protection Act, that has never been used before. “The Department of Consumer Affairs will seek about Rs 426-crore damages from the company”, according to sources.
“Under section 12(1D) of the Consumer Protection Act, we have filed a complaint before NCDRC against Nestle India over the Maggi issue”. Officials registered a complaint on Nestle in causing damage to the Indian Consumers. Nestle took Maggi off the shelves in 2015 due to a controversy where few states decided to ban Maggi noodles.
Before the US did so, the UK, Singapore, Canada, Auatralia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Hong Kong declared Maggi noodles safe.
The complaint is being filed under Clause-12(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, which mentions that “the central government or the state government, as the case may be, either in individual capacity or as a representative of interest of the consumers in general”, can file such a case with the NCDRC.
“Samples of Nestle’s Maggi noodles were found to be containing more than the permissible limit of 2.5 ppm of lead and also violating the labelling requirements about presence of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)”.
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The FSSAI had also advised the Commissioners of Food Safety of all the states and UTs through its communication dated June 8 2015 to draw and test the samples of Noodles and allied products of other brands as well, Nadda said.
