The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that PepsiCo and Monster Beverages can sell their existing stocks of beverages labelled as “Energy Drink”, but cannot manufacture any more products bearing the descriptor.
While PepsiCo manufactures Sting Energy and Adrenaline Rush, Monster sells its product under the name Monster Energy.
They had approached the High Court against orders passed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) directing them to drop the label "energy drink". The FSSAI had also directed the food safety officers across India to seize the products.
Justice Amit Mahajan today said that he is staying the order to the extent that no coercive action will be taken against the companies. However, the Court added that it does not mean that the companies can continue manufacturing more products with the label.
The order will stay in force till the next date of hearing on November 5.
" Your existing stock will be sold," the Court added.
The High Court passed the order while dealing with the petitions filed by PepsiCo and Monster Beverages. Notably, earlier in the day, the Court also stayed the FSSAI order against Reliance Consumer Products Limited, which manufactures the drink Campa Energy Drink.
Advocate Suransh Chaudhary appeared for FSSAI today and told the Court that after the authority passed the order directing the companies to drop the "energy drink" label, there was a meeting with the industry body in mid-July.
Chaudhary added that the industry body agreed to drop the label, but that fact was not presented before the Court in the Campa case or in Red Bull's plea when the order against the company was set aside.
Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for PepsiCo, told the Court that the license issued to them allows manufacturing of the product. He added that the concession to drop the "energy drink" label was made under protest.
Justice Mahajan told FSSAI that since orders in Campa and Red Bull have already been passed, the authority can move applications in those cases, seeking correction.
Advocate Sandeep Das represented Monster Beverages.
Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi with advocates Dheeraj Nair, Angad Baxi, Avni Sharma, Krisna Gambhir, Shreya Sethi, Ritwik Sharma, Aparna Singh and Aman Acharya appeared for PepsiCo.
Advocate Arnav Mittal appeared for the Union of India.