Pepsi's claim upheld over Govt plea

BIS had claimed that the words 'Purity Guaranteed' and the background of an ice-clad mountain misled the consumer.

Rejecting the government's contention that PepsiCo was carrying out deliberately misleading hype of its packaged drinking water, the Delhi High Court upheld the company's right to market the product with the words 'Purity Guaranteed' on its label.

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Justice Vikramjit Sen, while upholding the MNCs plea, ruled that use of the words "pure," "crisp," "refreshing," "purified," and "purity guaranteed," on a label pertaining to packaged drinking water does not offend any provisions of law.

The court further held that the use of pictorial device/artwork on the label was not misleading and was not prohibited by any law.

Justice Sen passed the orders while disposing off a petition filed by PepsiCo India Holdings challenging the order issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which asked the bottling company to withdraw the label used on its popular packaged drinking water 'Aquafina'.

The BIS had asked the MNC to withdraw the words "purity guaranteed" and also the background scene of an ice-clad mountain as it tended to create false impression among the consumers that the water is directly drawn from salubrious and enriched mineral water.

Jos Chiramel, counsel for the BIS, argued that by no stretch of imagination the packaged drinking water supplied is "pure" and the company was only making a false representation to members of the public on the product.

He also contended that the only water that can be claimed as pure was distilled water, which otherwise is not consumable.