Food Safety Authority chairman exempted from contempt charge

Chairman of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) Mahfuzul Haque has been exempted from the contempt of court charge after he apologised to the court for his role.

The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalilon Sunday passed the order after he appeared before the court and begged  apology for not complying with the summon order issued by the High Court on May 23.

Chairman of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) Mahfuzul Haque

On May 23, the High Court (HC) summoned him to appear before it on June 16 as the 52 products that failed the quality tests of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) were not removed from the market.

Besides, the HC asked the National Consumers’ Right Protection Department to launch hotline for hearing the complaints of the consumers within two months.

The HC said according to the information by the Consumers’ Right Protection Department, people can lodge complaint by dialing 01777753668 and they will be able to lodge complaint to 999 and 333.The court asked the department to keep these numbers and hotline open round the clock.

It also asked the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institutions (BSTI) to conduct mobile court drives throughout the year.

The High Court on May 12 asked the authorities concerned to remove immediately from the market 52 food items of different local brands that failed the quality tests of the BSTI.

The court also directed the BFSA and Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection to comply with the order and submit their reports within 10 days.

It also ordered stopping production and marketing of those products until their quality is improved.

According to media reports published on May 3-4, the BSTI tested 406 food samples of 27 types.

They published the results of 313 products. Of those, samples from 52 manufacturers were found to be substandard and adulterated,

Advocate Shihab Uddin Khan stood for the petitioner while Faridul Islam and Barrister MR Hasan stood for BFSA and BSTI respectively and deputy attorney general Mokhlesur Rahman represented the state.