The HC allows the company to sell baby powder again…
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday permitted Johnson and Johnson to manufacture, sell, and distribute its baby powder. The state Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), on September 15, had cancelled the license and later, the company was instructed to recall the product from the market.
The HC also quashed three orders of the Maharashtra government revoking the company’s license and asking you to stop the product manufacture and sale, terming them as “stringent unreasonable and unfair”.
The orders of suspension and revoking of license were passed based on the report of a lab which found the powder contained higher pH level than prescribed. New tests conducted had showed that all the batches of the baby powder product w in line with the norms prescribed as the limit.
The court passed its judgment based on the petition file by the company challenging the tree orders of the Mumbai government which dates back to 15th September 2022 about cancelling the licence, 20 September 2022 which was about to immediately stop the manufacturing and selling of the baby powder product, and lastly the 3rd one passed on 15th October.
The orders of suspension and revoking of license were passed based on the report of a lab which found the powder contained higher pH level than prescribed.
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and S G Dige also came down heavily on the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its delay in carrying out tests on a sample of the company's baby powder seized in December 2018.
The bench noted that even though it is of utmost importance to follow the guidelines and maintain the quality standards of cosmetic products however to completely shut down a company would seem unreasonable when there is just a slight deviation in one of its products.
They even said doing such would create a considerable amount of chaos and wastefulness.
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