Old Monk has claimed losses exceeding Rs 500 crore after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) refused to allow sales of the popular rum in Maharashtra unless its manufacturer changes the product label to describe it as “rum-like” instead of “rum”.
The dispute came up before the Bombay High Court on Monday, where Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the FSSAI, said the regulator would permit sales only if the manufacturer agreed to the proposed labelling change.
Advocate Venkatesh Dhond, representing Mohan Rocky Springwater Pvt Ltd, the manufacturer of Old Monk, told the court that the restriction on sales from its unit in Thane district had resulted in corporate losses of more than Rs 500 crore. He added that the excise department had lost around Rs 350 crore in revenue, while approximately 300 workers were left idle.
Dhond also pointed out that the product continued to be sold in other states, while its sale remained prohibited in Maharashtra.
The manufacturer is challenging the FSSAI's prohibition order. In earlier hearings, the High Court had declined to grant an immediate interim stay on the ban. In an attempt to resolve the dispute, the company had agreed to submit revised draft labels that removed the contested age descriptors and prominently disclosed the presence of “added flavour”.
However, the revised labels were not approved by the regulator, and discussions between the two sides failed to resolve the impasse. The company subsequently requested the bench of Chief Justice MC Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna to hear the matter on merits. The court agreed to take up the case for final hearing on October 23.
The dispute centres on the FSSAI's objections to liquor products that use added rum flavouring but are marketed under conventional product names. The regulator has argued that adding artificial or nature-identical rum flavouring can mask the spirit's underlying composition and mislead consumers unless the product is appropriately labelled as flavoured or as a spirit with rum flavour.
The FSSAI had also raised objections to age-related descriptions on Old Monk labels, including “7 years old blended” and “very old vatted”, citing alleged non-compliance with labelling requirements.
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