The Hindu Business Line : Cola majors take matter to courts

STUNG by the pesticide row that has led to tremendous anti-cola sentiments and soft drink sales dipping across the country, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo on Friday moved courts in respective developments.

Senior PepsiCo officials maintained that the company had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court. However, the officials declined to divulge further details. Mr Abhiram Seth, Executive Director, Exports & External Affairs, PepsiCo India, confirmed to Business Line that PepsiCo had filed a case against `various people'. He declined to divulge details, stating that the matter was sub-judice.

However, according to industry sources, the petition filed by PepsiCo India Holdings, Pearl Drinks and its director, Mr C.K. Jaipuria, has listed Union Ministries of Health, Defence and Food Processing as respondents. According to legal sources, Pepsi's suit against the Defence Ministry follows a circular by the latter on Thursday that banned sales of brands from both the companies in its canteens and clubs across the country.

It is learnt that other respondents mentioned in the petition are the Bureau of Indian Standards, Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) and its director, Ms Sunita Narain.

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, on the other hand, on Friday moved the Mumbai High Court, seeking withdrawal against an order of the Government of Maharashtra, which partially restrains the sale of its beverages at its Pune plant.

According to sources, the petition challenges the Maharashtra Government's action of confiscating stock of its aerated water products from the Pune plant following allegations of pesticide residue in its beverages.

The State Government has been given time until August 11 to file a reply to the petition.

A raid against a Coca-Cola plant at Pirangot village in Pune district had been conducted following the CSE report revelations, and bottles and cans of Thums Up, Coke, Sprite and Limca had been seized.

Further, a press release issued by Coca-Cola India stated that a lawsuit had been dismissed in the High Court of Hyderabad by the Indian Young Lawyers Association which had questioned the safety of the company's products.

Meanwhile, in a press communiqué, CSE welcomed the Union Government's initiative to have soft drinks sold by the two cola giants independently tested for pesticide residues. CSE also advised the Government to broaden the ambit of testing. It said that testing must be done also for residues of cadmium, arsenic and lead, since the standard for these hazardous substances is much higher - 50 times - than what is legislated for the bottled water industry.

Citing their earlier experience with a study on endosulfan in Kerala that they undertook, CSE said that it took 10 months for the real picture to emerge, and cautioned the Government against similar pressure.

Significantly, CSE completely dissociated itself from the action being resorted to by "certain groups across the country who are smashing and burning bottles of Coke and Pepsi and even calling for a ban''. They maintained that it was not Coke and Pepsi per se that are to blame. It is the lack of Government regulations and the weakness of the regulatory framework, they added.

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