Courtesy: X
The Bombay High Court on Saturday vacated the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s order suspending the food licences of five restaurants at the Mumbai Cricket Association premises in Bandra-Kurla Complex. The outlets can reopen after a fresh inspection found them 88 per cent compliant with food safety rules, according to reports by the Times of India and PTI.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad accepted an undertaking from the FDA and held that there was no legal bar to resuming operations once the latest inspection showed compliance.
The five outlets are Permit Room, Pavilion, Mediterranean, Oriental Swing, and Clubway & Pastry Counter. The FDA had inspected them on 20 August and issued suspension orders the next day, citing hygiene lapses and the fact that M/s Shirke Infrastructure was running the kitchens while the licences stood in the MCA’s name.
Why did the court say the FDA was acting like a lord?
The bench said it was “tired of scolding the department and officers all the time”. Despite an earlier direction to take a pragmatic view, the FDA had continued the suspension on a technical point about the operator, the court said.
“However, despite clearly saying this, the FDA has disobeyed our order and taken a pedantic view instead of a pragmatic view,” the bench observed, as reported by the Times of India and Hindustan Times. “It is now time to pass stinging orders. We will issue contempt action against the concerned officers. Let them convince us or go to jail.”
The judges also asked why the department acted with “undue haste” without fully analysing the legal position.
“How many times should we try to convince and balance equities so that the department does not feel discouraged? Why do we say don't kill a mosquito with a sword? Do you feel you are a lord and you can do anything?” the court asked.
On Saturday the FDA told the court it would issue a fresh notice to the MCA, hear the association on its contract with Shirke Infrastructure, and then pass a reasoned order. The bench accepted that undertaking but still vacated the existing suspension so the restaurants could open.
“There is no provision in the law that prohibits the same,” the judges said.
What did the FDA originally find in the MCA kitchens?
Inspections on 20 August flagged ice build-up in refrigerators, unclean or slippery kitchen floors, poor temperature control, deteriorated raw material, inadequate sanitisation, and gaps in oil-quality checks, according to FDA findings reported by PTI, the Economic Times and the Indian Express.
At Clubway & Pastry Counter, officials also recorded inadequate working space, lack of gloves for a food handler, and the claim that food business was being carried out under a name that did not hold a valid licence.
The MCA challenged the suspensions in the high court. At a hearing earlier in the week the same bench praised FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe’s hygiene drive but asked the department to “be consistent” and not act in an “ad hoc manner”. It ordered a fresh inspection and, as an interim measure, allowed only tea and coffee through vending machines during ongoing tournaments.
The Thursday re-inspection put compliance at 88 per cent. That figure became the turning point on Saturday.
Is this part of a wider clash between the court and the FDA?
Yes. Over recent weeks the same bench has repeatedly restored or stayed FDA licence suspensions across hotels, restaurants, dairies and even a Pune sweet shop, holding that immediate closure needs a genuine public-health emergency and due process.
The court has also asked whether government and semi-government canteens, including those at Mantralaya and the High Court itself, face the same standards as private kitchens. In one earlier matter it compared the regulator’s approach to using a sword to kill a mosquito.
Posts on X on Saturday largely circulated the Times of India report. Engagement remained modest in the first hours after the order. Search interest continues to cluster around Bombay High Court, Maharashtra FDA, Tukaram Mundhe and restaurant licence suspensions.
The FDA has not issued a detailed public statement beyond what its counsel told the court. The department still intends to examine the MCA–Shirke contractual arrangement separately.
The five BKC outlets can now serve food again. The contempt warning and the promised fresh notice mean the larger dispute over how the FDA uses its powers is not closed.
