The Pithoragarh Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court sentenced three persons to six months imprisonment for violating food safety standards in the production and distribution of Patanjali Elaichi Soan Papdi. The court also imposed fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000.
Abhishek Kumar, the assistant general manager of the company, and Leeladhar Pathak, a shopkeeper from Berinag town, were given six-month imprisonment sentence, along with fines. Ajay Joshi, the assistant manager of Kanhaji Distributors Pvt Ltd, an authorised Patanjali distributor based in Ramnagar, Nainital, also received the same jail term.
The convictions were made under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The case started when samples of Patanjali Elaichi Navratna Soan Papdi were collected from Pathak’s shop in September 2019. The samples were sent to the National Laboratory in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, for testing. The lab reports indicated that the samples did not meet the food safety standards and a case was registered in 2021.
Patanjali Foods, formerly known as Ruchi Soya Industries Limited), filed a clarification with the BSE, on the recent news in media on “Unsafe Patanjali Soan Papdi”. The statement said, “Pursuant to Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we may clarify that this matter pertains to the year 2019 when sampling was conducted at the premises of a distributor of Patanjali Ayurved Limited (“PAL”). A case was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pithoragarh against the nominee of PAL and its distributor. The recent court conviction pertains solely to the nominees of PAL and its distributor who are going to challenge the conviction order.”
It added, “Kindly note that Food Business came into the fold of Patanjali Foods Limited (“the Company”) in July, 2022 only and hence the Company has no connection with this matter. The Company remains dedicated to transparency and integrity in all its operations.”