16-05-2025
Tirupati laddu row: Madras High Court sets aside suspension of FSSAI licence of Dindigul-based A.R. Dairy Food
The Madras High Court on Friday (May 16, 2025) set aside the suspension of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence issued to Dindigul-based A.R. Dairy Food Private Limited for having allegedly supplied ghee with foreign fat, instead of milk fat, to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) for preparing the laddu prasadam.
Justice V. Lakshminarayanan allowed a writ petition filed by A.R. Dairy Food Private Limited, challenging the suspension order passed by the central licensing authority, under the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, on February 14, 2025. He also remitted the matter to the licensing authority for reconsideration.
The judge made it clear that the authority must consider whether the licence must be suspended with respect to the production of ghee alone or also with respect to other products too. He also ordered that fresh proceedings be issued within four weeks after reconsidering the matter in accordance with his directions.
Justice Lakshminarayanan stated that the licence shall be considered to have been suspended only with respect to the manufacture of ghee, until the licensing authority reconsiders the matter and issues fresh proceedings. The judge further observed that suspension of licence could be in force for a maximum period of six weeks and not indefinitely.
If the licensing authority wanted to prevent the petitioner company from making any food products permanently, after arriving at a conclusion that it had indeed adulterated the ghee supplied to TTD, then the only option available would be to cancel the FSSAI licence by following due procedures of law, he added.
Since the writ petition had been allowed on a technical ground, the judge directed the petitioner company to pay costs of ₹2 lakh to the central licensing authority within two weeks. The orders were reserved in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on April 2, 2025, but delivered at the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai.
In its affidavit, the dairy company had claimed to have been procuring milk from 13,000 suppliers every day by employing 400 staff members. The sudden suspension of the licence preventing the dairy from manufacturing any milk product, and not just ghee, had come as a shocker to all those dependent on the company, it said.
It also argued that the licensing authority had initially issued an improvement notice under Section 32 of the 2006 Act but abandoned those proceedings midway and instead suspended the FSSAI licence by invoking the ground of public interest.
