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Hearing of FSSAI chairman's appointment PIL scheduled for March 5, '14
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Saturday, 09 November, 2013, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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The upcoming hearing of the public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the recruitment and appointment of the chairperson of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is scheduled to take place on March 5, 2014.
It was filed in the Delhi High Court by Lok Jagriti, a Ghaziabad-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) on May 29, 2013. The PIL stated that K Chandramouli, FSSAI's incumbent chief, did not fulfill the eligibility criteria for the post as desired under Section 5 of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006.
During the first hearing on August 14, 2013, the court had asked for a reply from the respondents. This was filed on October 30, 2013. “The respondents denied all the charges made in the PIL and said that the appointment was done as per the rules and norms prescribed in the Act,” said Govindjee, the petitioner's counsel.
He said, “The respondents added that the FSS Act is in a nascent stage, and they are taking help from Codex regulations in formulating the regulations in India, which was countered by the petitioner by saying that there were some norms in Codex, which cannot be applied in India.”
The NGO also mentioned that while searching for the chairperson of the apex food authority, many people with scientific background were available but ignored, and only a person with administrative background was chosen.
It also stated that Chandramouli also acted as CEO of the authority, which is a case of conflict of interest as a person cannot hold two positions simultaneously in the authority under the rules prescribed in FSS Act, and it is only now the regular CEO was appointed.
The petitioner also informed that the next date of hearing was too far, and they would move an application for the early hearing of the case.
It is pertinent to mention here that under Section 5 (3) of FSS Act, the chairperson would be appointed by the central government from amongst the persons of eminence in the field of food science or from amongst the persons from the administration who have been associated with the subject, and are either holding or have held a position not below the rank of secretary to the government of India.
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