Now Reading: Calcutta High Court Quashes Contaminated Lassi Case Against Manager
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Calcutta High Court Quashes Contaminated Lassi Case Against Manager
The Calcutta High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against Partha Sarathy Tripathy, manager of Schreiber Dynamix Dairies, in a case involving lassi allegedly contaminated with E. coli and coliform bacteria. Justice Uday…
The Story in Brief
The Calcutta High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against Partha Sarathy Tripathy, manager of Schreiber Dynamix Dairies, in a case involving lassi allegedly contaminated with E. coli and coliform bacteria. Justice Uday Kumar held that under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, a company must be prosecuted first before its managers can face vicarious criminal liability. The manufacturing company was not named as an accused, which the Court called a 'fatal, incurable jurisdictional defect'.
The case began on March 11, 2021, when a Food Safety Officer purchased eight packs of Britannia Winkin Cow Thick Lassi from a stall at Bandel Railway Station for Rs. 160. A lab report on May 20, 2021, declared the product unsafe due to elevated bacteria counts. The Court also flagged a 59-day delay in the lab report for a perishable dairy product, undermining the accused's right to seek re-analysis.
The Indian Opinion
The ruling places a logical but often ignored burden on food safety regulators: prosecute the company before its managers. One-sided narratives painting this as a corporate escape miss the legal point. Vicarious liability is a legal fiction, not a shortcut. If the regulator names every employee but not the firm, it invites quashing. The real test is whether the same regulator will now arraign the company, or let the case die.
Source: livelaw.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
