Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Retail outlet sealed within hours of inauguration

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation, on Sunday, sealed an outlet of the retail chain Varkeys barely three hours after it was inaugurated.

Corporation Secretary Johnson K. George said the action was ordered because the outlet started functioning without the mandatory trade licence from the local body.

A team of Corporation officials, led by V.J. Venugopal and P. Ajayakumar, health inspectors, entered the shop and ordered it to be closed down.

“According to the Kerala Municipality Act, a commercial institution has to submit an application to the Corporation at least 30 days before it starts functioning. It also has to secure a licence under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. We had to take action because Varkeys violated both these mandatory requirements,” Mr. George said.

Officials who participated in the operation said the management applied for a trade licence on April 30. The Corporation Council had adopted a resolution making it mandatory to seek its consent for the issue of trade licence to retail chain outlets.

G.R. Anil, Chairman of the Health standing committee of the Corporation, said the application had not come up before the committee. “We have received 11 applications for trade licence from retail chains. Only two applications submitted by Reliance have come before the Health committee. They will be forwarded to the council for approval. The rest are being processed by officials,” he said.

Mr. George said legal action, including prosecution, would be launched against Varkeys for violating the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. Officials collected food samples from the outlet to bolster the case. They said all the goods were removed from the shelves before sealing the outlet.

Mr. Anil said another outlet of Varkeys was functioning at Thycaud without the mandatory clearance. The application was still pending before the Corporation.

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