Indian court reinstates Milma TRCMPU board, overturning government dissolution

The appeal was heard by a Division Bench comprising Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and A.K. Preetha. Its decision overturned a single-judge ruling that had upheld the government’s action. The union’s president and other board office-holders brought the appeal, represented by Senior Advocate Renjith Thampan and Advocate P.C. Sasidharan.

TRCMPU, the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union, is a regional unit of the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which operates under the Milma name. The Director of the Dairy Development Department had removed its managing committee and appointed an interim administrative committee. The allegations concerned ghee provided for prasadam and abhishekam rituals at Sabarimala.

Following the takeover, Milma defended its handling of the supplies and their laboratory certification. Its chairman, K.S. Mani, said the federation had delivered only certified, premium-grade milk fat to the Travancore Devaswom Board. According to Mani, those supplies complied with all applicable requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, or FSSAI.

Mani said the ghee was transported in hermetically sealed commercial tins, each containing 15 kilograms. He maintained that this packaging prevented tampering or adulteration during transport within the cooperative’s logistics network.

The federation also said the temple administration had lodged no formal complaint about the purity of the product. According to Milma, the administration had paid in full for every consignment delivered.

Mani called for an investigation under civil and criminal law into custody after delivery if genuine Milma tins had been substituted or their contents mixed with inferior fats further along the distribution chain. He argued that such conduct should be investigated rather than used to penalise the cooperative’s elected leadership.