Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has approached the Bombay High Court challenging the constitutional validity of several central food safety regulations and orders, alleging that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has unconstitutionally established a parallel enforcement regime that usurps the state government's powers, Bar and Bench reported in the case State of Maharashtra v. Union of India & Ors.

Source: Bar and Bench

The petition, filed through the State Commissioner of Food Safety, Tukaram Mundhe, asserts that the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was designed to decentralise food regulation, with licensing and enforcement powers belonging to state commissioners and their designated officers. The state alleges that the Centre and the FSSAI have steadily dismantled that decentralised regime.

Maharashtra has specifically challenged the 2011 Licensing Regulations, the 2018 Recruitment Regulations and the 2026 Amendment Regulations. According to the plea, the FSSAI Chief Executive Officer allegedly exercised powers unlawfully by creating posts such as Central Food Safety Officer and Central Licensing Authority, which the state argues are foreign to the statutory framework, and the CEO's enforcement role is limited to imported food articles, not domestic ground enforcement.

The dispute escalated after an FSSAI directive of May 12, 2023 barred state food safety officers from inspecting businesses holding a central licence. The state has claimed that the online Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) portal was deployed to systematically bring food businesses under central jurisdiction, and it has also challenged notifications of March 10 and March 13 that revised turnover thresholds for food business licensing, alleging they were issued without prior public notice.

The petition seeks directions to quash the contested regulations, stay the May 2023 order restricting state officers from inspecting centrally licensed units, and direct the FSSAI to transfer all licensing databases back to the respective state-designated officers. Senior FDA officials have said they are seeking to reclaim the state's right to inspect food businesses, with businesses having a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more currently falling under the Central Licensing Authority, PTI reported via the Daily Jagran.

Source: Daily Jagran (PTI)

The petition will be heard by the division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna on November 26.