Pune: Bombay High Court Restores Camp Restaurant Pind Punjab’s Food Licence
Pune: Bombay High Court Restores Camp Restaurant Pind Punjab’s Food Licence
Pune, July 18, 2026: The Bombay High Court has restored the food licence of the popular Camp-based restaurant Pind Punjab, holding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Pune Division’s order suspending its licence ceased to have effect after the restaurant achieved full compliance during a fresh inspection.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Gautam A. Ankhad passed the order on July 16, observing that the pending appeal before the FDA Commissioner had served its purpose and stood disposed of.
The FDA had conditionally suspended the restaurant’s licence on June 23, 2026, after a surprise inspection conducted on June 22 reportedly identified several deficiencies. The restaurant challenged the suspension before the FDA Commissioner, who subsequently ordered a fresh inspection on June 28.
During the hearing, advocate Abhijit Desai, appearing for Pind Punjab, submitted an auto-generated report of the fresh inspection conducted on July 8, which showed 100% compliance with food safety norms. The legal representatives of the Ministry of Health and Public Safety, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and the Maharashtra FDA did not dispute the authenticity of the report.
The High Court observed that once the restaurant had rectified all deficiencies and obtained full compliance, the suspension order automatically lost its effect and the licence stood restored.
The bench further noted that the concerned FDA officer should have issued a consequential order restoring the licence after the compliance report was generated but may not have done so because the appeal was still pending.
In its order, the court stated that since all deficiencies had been rectified, there was no need to continue the appellate proceedings and directed that the appeal be formally disposed of by the FDA Commissioner’s office.
Following the High Court’s order, the restaurant resumed operations on Thursday evening.
Advocate Desai said the restaurant had challenged the suspension on the grounds that it was issued without first serving an improvement notice under Section 32(1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and without giving the restaurant an opportunity to be heard, which he argued was contrary to the statutory procedure and principles of natural justice.
