Manufacturers of vegetable ghee: LHC issues stay order, suspends PFA order

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued a stay order to the manufacturers of vegetable ghee (Banaspati), and suspended an order of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), which has imposed a ban on manufacturing and sale of Banaspati/vegetable ghee.

The LHC has issued an order on Thursday in the writ petition number 34668 of 2020 filed by the manufacturers of vegetable ghee (Banaspati). According to the order of the LHC, the LHC has granted status quo order against the PFA Regulations 2018, and further suspended imposition of ban on Banaspati effective July 2020, earlier announced by the PFA.

The LHC order added that till the next date of hearing, no coercive measures shall be adopted by the petitioners. The petitioner companies stated that the companies are well-reputed, well-known and renowned manufacturers, sellers and exporters of vegetable ghee (Banaspati), which fully comply with the standards prescribed by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority.

The companies are involved in inter-provincial trade of Banaspati and also export of the same to various countries including the USA, the UAE, and Afghanistan.

The deputy director of the PFA issued a notice, which stated as follows: "In the light of the recommendation put forth by the scientific panel based on the international best practices and health hazards (i.e. saturated fats and transfatty acids) associated with the consumption of Banaspati, it was unanimously reaffirmed by all the scientific panel that manufacturing and sale of Banaspati should be banned by the Punjab Food Authority as per deadline mentioned in Punjab Pure Food Regulations, 2018."

The petitioners argued that the standards of food items, especially Banaspati, fall within the legislative domain of the federal government i.e. the PSQCA and the imposition of any kind of ban on Banaspati or regulation of the standards of the same by the provincial government i.e. the PFA tantamount to violation of Pakistan's international obligations.

The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has also decided that the single harmonized standards shall prevail across the country as national standard/Pakistan standard. All provincial standards shall be repealed with national standards, formulated by the PSQCA.

The exercise and assertion of jurisdiction by the PFA, a provincial authority, over a subject and a field clearly falling within the domain of federal government, is patently unlawful, void and unconstitutional. The same is in violation of applicable law and Pakistan's binding, multilateral and bilateral, international commitments.

The petitioner stated that the companies have businesses that are trans-provincial i.e. manufacture, marketing and sale of Banaspati across Pakistan. Under the scheme of the Constitution in view of Article 151 read with entry No 27 of Part-I of the Federal Legislative List given in Schedule-IV of the Constitution, the exclusive legislative mandate over matters relating to inter-provincial trade and commerce lies with the Parliament (and subsequently its executive enforcement with the federal government).

It is for this very reason that federal food standards prevail in other jurisdictions as well, including the USA, India, and Australia. Article 246 read with Entry 42 of List 1 (Union List) of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of the Republic of India gives the Indian Parliament the exclusive jurisdiction to make laws with respect to inter-state trade and commerce.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, consolidates Indian Laws relating to food and establishes the Federal Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which has notified various regulations relating to food safety and quality standards.

Moreover, the standards prescribed by the respondent, PFA, cannot regulate food products manufactured in the Punjab for the purposes of export. The respondent PFA has no affiliations with international standardization bodies, which is imperative for its standards to be recognised on an international level, particularly for export purposes.

Moreover, the respondent, PFA is only a provincial authority; therefore, it cannot possibly extend its authority to products that are traded across Pakistan's provincial and national borders. These acts of the respondent, PFA are contrary to the scheme of the Constitution and prescribing quality standards for goods, which are exported is a field occupied by the Parliament.

The actions of the PFA will have a devastating impact on the constitutional structure and distribution of legislative authority under the current constitutional framework, Pakistan's international commitments, inter-provincial trade and the economy of Pakistan as a whole.

During the pendency of the instant writ petition, operation of the impugned notice dated 27.04.2020, may be suspended and the PFA may be restrained from taking any adverse or coercive action against the petitioner companies or its product (Banaspati), directors/shareholders, distributors, dealers, agents and employees, etc or interfering with the lawful business operations of the petitioner companies, petitioners added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020