Milk Vita has no bar for production, sale: SC
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Co-operative Union Limited (Milk Vita), can produce, distribute and sell its pasteurised milk.
Chamber judge Md Nuruzzaman passed the order when Milk Vita, a state-owned milk producing company, filed a petition seeking stay on a High Court order.
Attorney general Mahbuby Alam stood in favour of Milk Vita, and lawyer Mohiuddin Md Hanif was with him.
Mohiuddin said the chamber judge stayed the HC order for eight weeks.
The HC on Sunday banned producing, marketing, selling and consumption of pasteurised milk produced by 14 companies, including Milk Vita, as traces of harmful substances were found in those, reports BSS.
A High Court division bench comprising justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order after scrutinising reports on testing milk samples in four different laboratories.
The High Court on 14 July had ordered authorities concerned to test pasteurised milk samples in laboratories of National Food Safety Laboratory, laboratories of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), and Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute within a week to detect contamination including presence of antibiotics.
“The High Court has ordered to stop producing, selling, marketing, buying and consumption of pasteurized milk produced by 14 BSTI-approved companies for five weeks. After this order, there is no scope of selling pasteurized milk in the country for five weeks. The court also issued a rule on suo moto in this regard,” said lawyer Anik R Haque, who moved a writ in this regard, told newspersons.
