Fearing investor backlash, Maharashtra makes a U-turn; not to move SC seeking Maggi ban

The Maharashtra has finally decided not to move the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order lifting the ban on Maggi noodles and giving clean chit to Nestle India, reports the Business Standard today. [caption id=“attachment_2480186” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. PTI[/caption] “The decision was taken on Tuesday at the level of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who came to the conclusion that the move to file a special leave petition (SLP) in the apex court would send wrong signal to investors and adversely impact Maharashtra’s image as a business-friendly state."— said the report. Despite the go-ahead from the Bombay High Court, the food minister was previously in no mood to put a brake on the clamping down on Nestle. “Sample reports received from government laboratories had mentioned lead traces. We imposed the ban to prevent any health problems for the consumers,” Bapat had said earlier. The decision was taken after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made it clear to his Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat that waging a legal hot pursuit against the Swiss conglomerate won’t send out the right signals to potential investors. Indications of this nature were clearly available on Monday when Swiss Ambassador to India Linus von Castelmur said ban on Maggi noodles sent out a “disturbing message” to Switzerland’s enterprises. “That was a kind of disturbing message for Swiss enterprises, who are long invested in India and who plan to invest in India. I think the ban was not justified clearly. It could not be substantiated very clearly. That is something that is disturbing potential investors or investors who want to do something,” Castelmur said . The Swiss ambassador also said firms from his country keen on investing in India have now raised “questions about the regulatory framework” and warned that “it might result that prospective investors who wanted to invest in India may shift to other countries.” On 9 November, Maggi returned to the shelves after it cleared the tests conducted by three government-accredited laboratories as ordered by the Bombay High Court. In June, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had banned Maggi saying that was “unsafe and hazardous” for consumption due to presence of lead beyond permissible limits forcing the company to withdraw the product from the market. In an earlier story on Firstpost, author Seetha had argued that the Maharashtra’s tough stand on Maggi could prove detrimental to the state’s investment climate at a time when Prime Minister Narendra has been relentlessly globe-trotting tom-tomming the investment-friendly atmosphere in the country. “What is one to make of the Maharashtra government’s decision to challenge the Bombay High Court order lifting the ban on the sale of Maggi Noodles? Coming as it does, days after Maggi cleared all tests prescribed by the court, this move looks small-minded to the core…. What message does it send out about the business environment of a country if a state government is seen to be hounding a company which has been cleared by a court of law?"— Seetha had written in her piece . For now, it seems Maharashtra is back on the path of preserving its image as a business-friendly destination rather than pressing the self-destruct mode.