Uttarakhand High Court Quashes ₹3 Lakh Penalty on PepsiCo

The Uttarakhand High Court has quashed a ₹3 lakh penalty imposed on PepsiCo India Holdings over the alleged misbranding of its Lehar Bhujia product carrying the label “Maha Value.” The court held that the authorities failed to establish how the label could mislead consumers and had not provided adequate evidence or scientific reasoning to support the charge. It accepted PepsiCo’s submission that the term referred to the pack quantity rather than the product’s quality and observed that such labelling is governed by the Legal Metrology Act rather than the Food Safety and Standards Act. As a result, the court set aside the penalty imposed by the State Food Safety Department.