What happens when a bureaucrat decides that rules should not remain on paper?
Meet Tukaram Mundhe, the Maharashtra FDA Commissioner whose recent food-safety drive has put regulatory enforcement in the spotlight.
Since taking charge, Mundhe has pushed the FDA towards intensive inspections and on-ground enforcement.
More than 1,100 inspections and raids have been conducted across Maharashtra, targeting restaurants, hotels, food warehouses, dairies and other food businesses.
But the story became bigger when the Bombay High Court questioned the proportionality and consistency of such enforcement, including whether government and private food establishments were being treated equally.
The FDA subsequently inspected canteens within the Bombay High Court, bringing an important principle of governance into focus:
The law must apply equally to everyone.
So, this isn't just a story about vada pav, samosa or restaurant inspections.
It is a story about how bureaucracy can move from files to field.
August 18, 2026 218 1
