The Bombay High Court quashed two orders passed by the government of Maharashtra in September 2022 revoking the license of Johnson & Johnson to manufacture, sell, and distribute its baby powder products, terming the orders as “stringent, unreasonable and unfair.”
The bench noted that while maintaining standards of quality and safety are of utmost importance for cosmetic products, at the same time it does not seem reasonable to shut down the whole manufacturing process when there is a slight deviation in one of the products.
“The executive cannot use a hammer to kill an ant. Is it always inevitable that when there is a single case of deviation or non-compliance (to prescribed norms) by a product, the only option left with the regulatory authority is to cancel or revoke the license of the manufacturing company?” the court said in its order.
“This seems to us as an extreme approach. There seems to be an unfairness and unreasonableness in the executive action. There is also nothing to show that the FDA (state Food and Drug Administration) has adopted such a stringent approach for any other product of the petitioner company or any other company,” it added.
