Global spirits major Diageo's India unit United Spirits has argued in court that the government prohibited its popular rum for alleged misbranding without following due process, just as India's food safety regulator began consulting the industry on the labelling rules at the centre of the dispute, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
United Spirits has challenged the prohibition on McDowell's No. 1 Celebration Matured XXX Rum in Maharashtra, arguing that the food safety officer who issued the order was not empowered under the law to do so and had bypassed the adjudicatory process by relying on a food analyst's report to impose the stop-sale order.
