The Rajasthan High Court has reaffirmed that police officers appointed under the Police Act do not have the authority to investigate offences related to food adulteration punishable under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSSA). The case arose from a challenge to an FIR filed by police authorities under general provisions of the Indian Penal Code, specifically Sections 272 and 273, which deal with adulteration or sale of noxious food or drink, and Section 420 concerning cheating. The FIR followed the seizure of allegedly adulterated food items and misbranded goods from the petitioner. The petitioner filed a petition under the High Court’s inherent powers seeking the quashing of the FIR and all consequential proceedings, contending that the FIR was impermissible as food safety offences are exclusively governed by the FSSA.
The petitioner argued that the FSSA is a special and comprehensive statute addressing food safety and adulteration, and that its provisions, particularly Section 89, which provides that the Act will prevail over any inconsistent law, and Section 59(i), which prescribes punishments for sale of unsafe or adulterated food, take precedence over the IPC. According to the petitioner, the police’s FIR under the IPC sections for food adulteration and misbranding was contrary to law and should not be entertained because the FSSA prescribes its own enforcement and prosecution mechanism.
The Court, after hearing arguments, referred to established legal principles and precedents, including Supreme Court decisions, which hold that when a special legislation exhaustively addresses a particular offence, the general law cannot be invoked for the same conduct. The Court emphasized that the FSSA envisages a distinct enforcement framework involving Food Safety Officers, Designated Officers, and the Commissioner of Food Safety, who are responsible for inspection, sampling, analysis, and prosecution. This framework is exclusive and different from ordinary police investigation procedures.
The Court observed that Sections 272 and 273 of the IPC, which criminalize adulteration and sale of noxious food or drink, are effectively overridden in the context of food regulated under the FSSA. It held that the FSSA occupies the entire field of food adulteration offences, and therefore any FIR registered by the police under the IPC for alleged food adulteration is void ab initio and constitutes an abuse of the legal process.
Consequently, the Court allowed the petition and quashed the FIR along with all consequential criminal proceedings initiated under the IPC. It clarified that only authorities designated under the FSSA, including Food Safety Officers and other competent food safety authorities, have jurisdiction to investigate food adulteration offences and may proceed strictly in accordance with the procedures outlined under the Act.
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