New Delhi:
A popular eating joint in the heart of the capital on Monday came under the scanner of the Delhi High Court in the wake of a controversy erupting due to a video allegedly showing dough being kneaded by foot.
Kake-da-Hotel in Connaught Place in New Delhi was asked to come out clean on the issue of food safety and standards of hygiene by the high court.
“You are one of the oldest restaurants in city. Why can’t you maintain proper standards? In some countries, street vendors have better standards than our restaurants,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva told Mehak Cuisines Pvt Ltd which runs the famous eatery on the outer circle of the Connaught Place.
“So show to the world that one of the oldest restaurants has the best standards in hygiene,” the court also said and asked it to maintain proper standards.
The lawyers for the restaurant repeatedly told the court that they have rectified all deficiencies which were earlier pointed out by the Food Safety Officer (FSO).
The response came after the court said that the FSO, who is the competent authority, has pointed out deficiencies and asked “why cannot you rectify the same?”
After the lawyers appearing for the restaurant said all deficiencies have been removed and further steps are being taken, the court asked the FSO to inspect the eatery again tomorrow and file a fresh status report with photographs.
With regard to the controversial video, the hotel said the person shown in the video was not kneading dough, but was cleaning clothes.
During the hearing the court perused the report and photographs of the eatery placed before it by the FSO who had carried out a surprise inspection of the premises on February 23 on court’s order.
The photographs showed that food containers were left open, all serving spoons for vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes were kept together, drains in the kitchen were overflowing and inadequate number of hand-wash basins.
The report of the food safety department of Delhi government said that the eatery did not have a chimney, nor were the records or documents certifying that their water and food served to customers was safe and hygienic as mandated under the Food Safety and Standards Act.
Mehak Cuisines had moved the court after the FSO had slapped a notice on the eatery on February 21 after the video was shared online.
