The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Dabur India by staying the operation of an order issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that prohibited the company from marketing and selling certain food products bearing claims such as 100% Pure, 100% Natural, 100% Purity Guaranteed and being 100% Organic.
Justice Amit Mahajan passed the interim order while hearing Dabur’s writ petition challenging the FSSAI’s prohibitory order dated August 3. The Court observed, prima facie, that an order having such significant commercial consequences ought not to have been passed without first affording the company an opportunity of hearing. Consequently, the impugned order has been stayed until the next date of hearing.
Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Dabur, argued that the company has been using the disputed claims on several products for decades and that the designated officer lacked the statutory authority to prohibit their sale in the manner adopted. He further submitted that the order was issued without a show-cause notice or any opportunity to respond, in violation of the principles of natural justice.
Dabur also contended that the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 require the regulator to seek clarification from a food business operator and consider its explanation before taking coercive action. According to the company, the FSSAI failed to follow this mandatory procedure before directing an immediate halt to the sale of the affected products.
The FMCG major further argued that the regulator’s action was confined to product labelling and advertising claims, and not to the quality or safety of the products themselves. It asserted that the FSSAI had not alleged that any of the products were unsafe, adulterated, spurious or sub-standard. The company also maintained that compliance with the order would require large-scale recall or repackaging of products already in the market, resulting in substantial commercial prejudice.
Appearing for the FSSAI, Central Government Standing Counsel Ashish Dixit defended the regulator’s action and submitted that Dabur had previously been issued an improvement notice. The regulator also referred to earlier litigation concerning Dabur’s “100%” claims relating to fruit juice products, where no interim protection had been granted.
After considering the rival submissions, the High Court found that Dabur had established a prima facie case for interim relief. It stayed the operation of the FSSAI’s order and directed that the matter be listed for further hearing on August 24.
The dispute forms part of the food regulator’s broader scrutiny of absolute marketing claims such as “100% Pure” and “100% Natural”, which the FSSAI considers incapable of objective verification and potentially misleading to consumers. The High Court’s interim order allows Dabur to continue marketing the affected products with the impugned claims until further orders.
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