File norms for junk food near schools in a month: HC to Centre

The Delhi High Court has allowed the Central government more time to create guidelines on regulating sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around schools, accepting a plea for the examination of the recently formulated draft guidelines by an expert committee.

During a hearing before the High Court bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog on Wednesday, amicus curiae in the case, advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, suggested that the guidelines should be examined by an expert committee since they referred to a number of "vague" concepts as well as technical terms from the guidelines created by the World Health Organization.

"We have a seven-member expert committee. We would place the draft guidelines before the expert committee. Kindly give us four weeks," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Rajeeve Mehra said, appearing for the Centre. The draft guidelines had last month been submitted to the court, and copies given to the amicus curiae and representatives of food processing companies, restaurants and other parties involved in the litigation. The court has now allowed the government time till December to get the guidelines analysed by the Committee.

In 2010, NGO Uday Foundation had filed a PIL seeking a ban on sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around schools. In January last year, the court had asked the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to frame guidelines on banning sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around educational institutions in six months. The court had also asked FSSAI to consult the All India Food Processors' Association (AIFPA) and restaurant associations for framing the guidelines. The draft guidelines were framed after a delay of nearly a year.

During the hearing, senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for one of the parties, opposed the draft guidelines, since they had been framed by private firm AC Nielsen QRG-MARG Pvt Ltd on the basis of a survey of over 600 schools, and analysis of the data collected. "The term junk food is a subjective term. A food item may be junk food for one and may not be for others," Singhvi said.

"There are suggestions such as 'schools may be encouraged to grow leafy vegetables', what is this? Schools in the urban areas don't have enough space," Singhvi said. Another proposed guideline under attack by the lawyers was to ban sale of junk food within 500 metres of a school. "Junk food is everywhere today. Will you close down main markets close to schools?" Singhvi said.