The Delhi high court on Wednesday stayed the government decision to destroy empty glass bottles of Coca-Cola not having the mandatory embossed declaration after the soft drink major gave an undertaking that it would not use them.

Issuing notice to ministry of food processing industries, Justice B D Ahmed asked it to file reply on Coca-Cola's allegation that government direction to destroy the empty glass bottles lying unused, segregated and stacked separately in various plants and godowns across the country was illegal.

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The government had initiated the process to destroy the empty glass bottles of Coca-Cola on the ground that the body of the bottles did no have the mandatory marking – 'Sweetened aerated water, contains no fruit juice.'

The Centre through a notification in December 2000 had made it mandatory that these markings or declarations were to be on the bodies of the container instead on the label.

However, Coca-Cola contended that through an amended notification of March 2001, where the year has been embossed on the bottles, effective dates were specified for complying with the provisions of embossing those declarations.

The soft drink major said for the bottle embossed with the year 1997, the effective date for those provisions was April 2003 and for the bottles of 1998, it is April 2004.

Government standing counsel Navin Chawla accepted the notice on behalf of ministry of food processing industries.

Coca-Cola submitted that till the "Sweetened aerated water' is put in the container the question of marking would not arise as per the provisions.