The Delhi high court has directed the Centre to constitute a taskforce to ensure compliance of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms for manufacturing and selling packed drinking water in the city.
The court passed the direction after the complainant, Bottled Water Processors Association, moved the high court alleging that the authorities concerned had not taken any action against several illegal units involved in manufacturing and supply of bottled drinking water by flouting the norms stipulated under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) and the BIS Act, though their attention had been drawn to it.
Justice S. Muralidhar, in its recent order, said the task force will be constituted by the ministry of health and family welfare and it will comprise senior representatives of the department of PFA and the BIS, the Delhi government and the Delhi police.
“The taskforce will co-ordinate amongst the various departments and constitute special crack units which will undertake surprise checks at various locations of manufacturers of packaged drinking water and initiate strict action in terms of the provisions contained under the PFA as well as the BIS Act,” Justice Muralidhar said.
The Bottled Water Processors Association had filed the petition in the Delhi high court alleging that the packed drinking water was being manufactured and sold in the city without licence and the BIS Mark by certain units and no action was taken to stop such illegal activities even after it had supplied the addresses of those manufacturers in June 2009 to the authorities.
The court also made it clear that timely implementation of all these directions were important since water borne diseases were on the rise during the summer.
According to provisions of PFA, packed drinking water can be manufactured and sold only with a licence and the BIS mark and any person illegally making or selling it without these shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment upto three years and fine.