The High Court has made it mandatory to get licence from the competent authority before venturing into the business of selling drinking water. The HC passed the order recently while observing that hygienic and clean drinking water is an essential part of human existence and that the industry has to be regulated. The order came in the wake of a petition filed by the Federation of Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers,Vadodara. The federation had sought HC direction to the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the strict compliance of the provisions of the Bureau of Indian Standard Act,1986 (BIS Act) and the Prevention of Food Adulteration (7th Amendment) Rules,2000,in the business of packaged drinking water in Surat city. The petitioner said a number of traders in Surat were into this business without the mandatory legal permission but the SMC had failed to implement the law in this regard in spite of them making a representation in this regard. In an interim order,the HC directed the civic body to decide on the representation of the federation. The SMC subsequently sealed a number of commercial premises running without procuring the licence. After this,the traders whose commercial premises were sealed also moved the HC against the SMC's action,contending that their business did not require procuring licence. They argued water sold by them was extracted from underground source and such water is treated by them with a system known as Reverse Osmosis (RO). They added the water derived from the RO system is pure and fit for human consumption. They further argued they are into the business of non-packaged drinking water,which is out of the ambit of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules. The HC observed,There is no product like non-packaged drinking water. The court also observed if traders are allowed to sell drinking water as non-packaged without the mandatory legal permission,it would result in disastrous consequences. Non-packaged drinking water could be adulterated at any stage. Besides,there would be no way to ascertain whether the water was adulterated at the time of manufacture,transit or sale, it added.
