“Do you think we can implement standards followed by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Australia? This is an urban-centric approach; people in rural areas drink groundwater, and nothing happens to them,” the bench said.

Senior advocate Anita Shenoy, counsel for petitioner, said the issue concerned public health and consumer safety. Relying on Section 18 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which mandates adherence to prescribed safety norms, the counsel said citizens were entitled to clean and safe packaged drinking water, and that statutory obligations could not be diluted.

Suggesting to the petitioner to spare some time for Indias to grow further, the bench said, “Let us face the ground realities of the country. Nobody takes up the cause of the poor. All this is urbanised phobia.”

The court also advised her to travel across the country and see the reality. “Mahatma Gandhi, when he returned from South Africa, travelled across rural areas to understand the plight of the people,” the CJI said.

The bench, however, allowed withdrawal of the PIL with liberty to approach the FSSAI and competent authorities to seek redrssal.