Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Kerala High Court lifted the ban on sales of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, pro-Marxist Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists ransacked the godowns of the soft drink giants in the heart of the city on Saturday.
A group of activists rushed to the godown of Pepsi at Mettukada and smashed several cartons of the softdrink. A similar attack was reported on the Coca-Cola godown at Kuravankonam in the city, police said.
The activists also smashed the windscreen of five vehicles parked inside the Pepsi factory in Palakkad on Friday.
The attack came even as both the soft drink giants were preparing to send the products to retail shops on the strength of the court order.
While the DYFI state committee has made it clear that they would not allow sales of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state, the Marxist-led Left Democratic Front Government is preparing to challenge the decision of the High Court Division Bench in the Supreme Court.
The Kerala Government banned the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi on August 10 on the basis of a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that stated that the drinks contained pesticide residues many times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
However, the soft drink majors challenged the ban in the High Court.
The Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice V K Bali and Justice M Ramachandran on Friday set aside the government's decision to ban the products, holding that the order was arbitrary and without due jurisdiction of power.
It held that the state government had no power under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) to ban food products.
Comments
0 comment