Milk Vita can produce, sell milk, says SC

July 29, 2019, 06:50 PM
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UNB News
Publish- July 29, 2019, 06:50 PM
Update- July 29, 2019, 06:53 PM

Milk Vita can produce, sell milk, says SC

Dhaka, July 29 (UNB) – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday partially stayed for eight weeks a High Court order that asked all the pasteurised milk-producing companies to refrain from producing, marketing and selling milk for five weeks, clearing the way for Milk Vita to produce and sell milk.

Chamber Judge Md Nuruzzaman passed the order after hearing an appeal filed by Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited (Milk Vita), seeking stay on the HC order.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, Deputy Attorney General Kazi Zinat Haque and Barrister Mohiuddin Hanif stood for Milk Vita.

With the Chamber Judge’s order, there is no restriction on producing and selling of milk by Milk Vita in the local market, said the attorney general.

On Sunday, the HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir ordered all the 14 pasteurised milk-producing companies to refrain from producing, marketing and selling milk for five weeks.

The companies are Aarong Dairy, Milk Vita, Farm Fresh, Pran Milk, Igloo, Dairy Fresh, Milk Fresh, Milk One, Ultra, Ay-Ran, PURA, Aftab, Arwa and SAFE.

Of them, Milk Vita filed an appeal with the Appellate Division seeking stay on the HC order that suspended production and selling of milk of the company.

Advocate Anikar Haque, a counsel of the writ petitioner, said the court took the reports of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and Institute of Public Health with importance and ordered all the 14 companies, which are registered with the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), to refrain from producing, selling and marketing milk for five weeks.

On July 14, the High Court sought the test reports of pasteurised milk of all the companies within a week after testing the samples of those in four different laboratories -- International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), BCSIR, Institute of Public Health, Food Safety Laboratory under the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute.

A new test conducted by Prof ABM Faruque, former director of Dhaka University's Biomedical Research Centre, found the traces of antibiotics in pasteurised products of Pran, MilK Vita, Igloo, Aarong and Farm Fresh.

On June 25, scientists said they found the traces of detergent and antibiotics in samples of raw and pasteurised milk of Pran, Milk Vita, Igloo, Aarong and Farm Fresh.