HP High Court Orders Food Safety Compliance Check in Health Institution Messes Amid Fee Row
Shimla, April 8:
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed authorities to ensure that all mess and canteen facilities operating in health institutions and hospitals run or controlled by the state’s Health Department are complying with the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The court’s directive comes in the wake of a suo motu PIL concerning high mess charges in nursing colleges, registered as CWPIL No. 83 of 2024.
During the hearing on Monday, the bench took serious note of discrepancies in communications received from two different groups claiming to represent the Student Nursing Association.
A fresh request to withdraw the case was submitted by six students — Aakriti Sharma, Riya Kutahria, Ishita Bhardwaj, Kanchan Sharma, Shreya Jaswal, and Kritika Thakur — identifying themselves as the current office bearers of the association.
Meantime, it us not only messes and canteens, the Himachal Food Safety and Regulatory Authorities need lot of answering as they have failed to check regular supplies of essentials in king milk and breads, and fruits being sold in the markets by the private stores in Shimla city in areas like New Shimla, which sell state food items at exorbitant prices and charge Rs 10 for carry bags (Diamond store).
However, the court observed that none of the new signatories were part of the original complaint, which was signed by Angel Negi, Ankita Shandil, Shivani Vashist, Vijay Laxmi, and Shagun Chaudhary, who held key posts in the association at the time the petition was initiated.
Given the mismatch in representation, the court refrained from acting on the withdrawal request and decided to proceed with the matter.
While the State (respondents no. 1 to 3) has already filed its reply through Deputy Advocate General Priyanka Chauhan, respondent no. 4 — represented by Advocates Adarsh Vashista and Shivom Vashista — was granted two weeks to submit its response.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on April 20.