I: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused togrant any interim relief to the Kerala government, which had challengedthe Kerala
High Court's decision to lift a ban imposed on
sale of Pepsiand Coke in the state.A
bench comprising Justice A R Lakshmanand Justice Altmas Kabir, however, issued notices to Pepsico Indiaholdings Ltd and Hindustan Coca-Cola Pvt Ltd and asked them to filereplies in four weeks. A division bench of the Kerala HighCourt had, on September 22 last year, held that the state was notempowered to prohibit the manufacture and sale of these cola drinks.Keralagovernment had in August 2006 notified the ban on these productsfollowing findings by NGO centre for science and environment that thedrinks contained pesticide residues beyond the permissible level andwere not fit for human consumption.