‘Instead Of Urbanized Phobia Take A Cue From Mahatma Gandhi': SC On Bottled Drinking Water

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition challenging India’s standards for bottled drinking water and plastic packaging, terming the issue as 'rich and urbanized phobia'.

Drawing attention to Mahatma Gandhi, the bench urged the petitioner to witness parts of the country where people still struggle for access to drinking water and receive only a fixed quantity each day.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant told the petitioner's counsel, “Ask him (the petitioner) to travel to some parts (of India). When Mahatma Gandhi came from South Africa…had to travel to different rural areas of the country only to understand the plight of the people. He is a big architect, tell him to travel to some parts of India, where people are still craving for drinking water and get only a fixed quantity. Then, you will understand what is India”.

The petitioner’s counsel pressed that the issue is regarding bottled water and it is not a luxury litigation, rather the issue raised by her client has a direct impact on human health. The CJI said, “We would have appreciated it if the petitioner had done some hard work to find out about villages where drinking water has not yet reached”.

The bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, described the issue raised before the court as 'rich and urbanized phobia…', The bench orally observed that the plea reflected a disconnect from the country’s ground realities and was not convinced with the petitioner's reliance on foreign standards and guidelines.

"With the situation we face, do you (the petitioner) think we can implement US guidelines, etc. Be alive to ground realities. You are citing Australian and Saudi Arabian guidelines. This is all just talking in the air," the CJI observed orally. The bench added that the country cannot at this stage adopt benchmarks followed in developed countries.

"If the petitioner would have pushed for drinking water supply in villages which do not have access to any, we could understand. But what description should be on water bottles, etc., is just luxury (litigation)," the bench said.

After hearing the submissions, the bench declined to entertain the petition but granted liberty to the petitioner to submit a representation to the government authorities. The plea questioned the standards prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for permissible levels of antimony and DEHP (Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) in packaged drinking water and plastic bottles.

It sought quashing of FSSAI and BIS notifications prescribing permissible limits of antimony and DEHP in drinking water and plastic packaging, alleging that the standards were "ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution" and contrary to the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

The plea argued that Indian standards "allow a higher amount of antimony and DEHP to be present in drinking water, as compared to the safe permissible amount set by the World Health Organisation and in other countries”.

The plea further alleged that FSSAI failed to discharge its statutory duty under Section 18 of the FSSAI Act, 2006, which mandates that international standards be taken into account while framing regulations.

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