Delhi High Court refuses to allow Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to sell existing stocks of ORSL drink

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to pass any interim orders allowing JNTL Consumer Health, the Indian subsidiary of American healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, to sell its stock of ORSL Electrolyte Drink. 

The sale of the drink was stopped following the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) directive banning the sale of beverages with misleading ORS labels. The total value of the ORSL unsold stock is stated to be nearly ₹100 crores. 

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela today rejected the interim relief application filed by JNTL in its plea challenging the FSSAI directives as well as the law mandating companies to recall the products from the market.

The Court highlighted that there is a possibility that people suffering from diarrhoea may be misled into buying JNTL’s products if it is allowed in the market. 

“A person suffering from diarrhoea, I am not saying this happens in every case. But ordinarily, people do not go to the doctors in cases of diarrhoea. What happens is that they generally go and buy ORS that balances the electrolytes. What you are writing on your drink is that it is an energy drink with electrolytes. There is every possibility of the person being misled,” the Court remarked.

Earlier, a single-judge bench of the High Court had also refused to interfere with the FSSAI orders. That order was passed on a plea filed by Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

JNTL approached the High Court challenging the FSSAI orders of October 14 and 15 as well as October 30. It also challenged Regulation 5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Recall Procedure) Regulations, 2017. 

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sandeep Sethi appeared for the firm today and stated that they have been in the market for over two decades and there is no complaint that their product is adulterated. 

Rohatgi added that they have already stopped manufacturing the product. 

“We are going to rebrand it. But I don’t want to lose ₹100 crores worth of stock. It will be unfair to treat this as an adulterated drug,” he added. 

However, the Court remained unconvinced and rejected the interim relief plea. 

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Ashish Dixit and advocate Aditya Singla appeared for FSSAI.