- The Bombay High Court questioned Maharashtra FDA on license cancellation criteria for hotels
- A hotel had challenged the FDA's action, citing insufficient written reasons for the license suspension
- FDA alleged serious hygiene violations, including cockroaches, in the hotel's kitchen area
"There was an insect on the desk; what can we do now?" a Bombay High Court judge asked Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in jest while hearing a petition by a five-star hotel against the cancellation of its license over alleged poor sanitary conditions.
Park Inn By Radisson in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai has approached the Bombay High Court against the cancellation of its license earlier this month.
The bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Akhand questioned the FDA about the criteria for cancelling the license.
As the discussion veered towards insects, one of the judges jokingly remarked: "Last week, a large insect was sitting on my desk right in front of me. What can we do now? We are in India. I was telling you about a fly, right? There's still a fly flying around here. We are in India; we have to take a practical and realistic approach".
The lawyer representing the luxury hotel argued, "This issue is not about one cockroach or 10 cockroaches. But a license cannot be suspended based solely on a checklist."
The lawyer also argued that the FDA had not provided sufficient and relevant written reasons to support its decision before taking such drastic action.
The next hearing in the case will be next Friday.
The FDA had flagged alleged "serious hygiene violations" in the hotel, particularly in the kitchen.
The body had told the court that it had found cockroaches inside the kitchen.
FDA Crackdown
The action against the hotel had been taken as part of the FDA's crackdown against hotels, restaurants and eateries.
On Tuesday, the FDA suspended the food business licenses of the Cricket Club of India (CCI), MIG Cricket Club in Bandra East, and three other clubs over alleged violations of food safety and hygiene norms.
The body found that CCI's kitchen lacked segregation between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparation areas. It also allegedly found cockroaches and flies near food-handling and waste disposal areas.
FDA further said in the statement that water was found dripping on stored food inside cold storage, drains were clogged, cutting boards were unhygienic, rotten vegetables, overripe mushrooms and expired food items were stored, and FIFO/FEFO ('First In, First Out' and 'First Expired, First Out') practices and proper food labelling were not followed, it said, according to news agency PTI.
The body also suspended the food licenses of RK Juhu Gymkhana, The Aparna Juhu Gymkhana and The Willindon Sports Club over violations, the release said.
