An serviceman successful the Indian Administrative Service, Mundhe has much than 2 decades of acquisition and has been transferred truthful often that reports accidental the fig exceeds his years successful service, though helium declines to corroborate it.
"I person stopped counting my transfers," helium told the BBC.
Admirers spot the transfers arsenic grounds of his uncompromising style. Critics reason that this confrontational attack has enactment him astatine likelihood with colleagues and elected representatives.
In the past decade, Mundhe has won praise for his handling of the Covid pandemic outbreak during his clip arsenic Nagpur city's municipal commissioner and earlier for his enactment connected h2o conservation successful Maharashtra's drought-prone regions.
"When helium was transferred retired of Nagpur during the pandemic, thousands showed up extracurricular his location to bid him farewell. It took him an hr conscionable to scope his car," says Shafi Pathan, a writer who's written Mundhe's biography successful the section Marathi language.
But his food-safety crackdown has brought him the astir attraction yet.
The standard of India's food-safety occupation is superior and numbers presented to the parliament successful July connection a glimpse of conscionable however wide the contented is.
Of 223,808 nutrient samples tested crossed India successful 2025 and 2026, nearly 1 successful five, external were recovered to beryllium "non-conforming" - which means the samples were either unsafe, substandard oregon mislabelled.
And Mundhe has responded with an unusually assertive enforcement drive.
By the extremity of July, his section had carried retired much than 3,100 inspections crossed the authorities - a fig helium expects has since crossed 4,000.
Around 300 licences had been suspended and much than 1,000 betterment notices issued. A caller complaints portal had besides received much than 16,000 complaints successful its archetypal 3 months, Mundhe said.
"Hygiene has ever been a occupation here," Pawan Agarwal, erstwhile main of India's nutrient regulator, told the BBC. "What Mundhe has done otherwise is marque it visible".
Consumers person responded positively to that visibility, Agarwal says. Unlike successful India's accepted system, wherever nutrient information cases and user complaints tin instrumentality years to determination done regulators and courts, enforcement actions are present playing retired successful public.
The run has besides made Mundhe a societal media prima - helium present has much than 3.8 cardinal followers connected Instagram.
However, adjacent arsenic consumers invited the velocity and visibility of his actions, galore successful the nutrient manufacture are little enthusiastic.
Restaurant associations allege the authoritative has been bypassing a statutory process, portion courts person termed immoderate of his actions "high-handed".
Under India's nutrient information laws, businesses are usually fixed clip to hole violations earlier regulators suspend oregon cancel their licences. Regulators tin suspend licences instantly lone successful urgent nationalist wellness situations but indispensable grounds their reasons.
"While compliance is non-negotiable, high-handed approaches - similar nationalist naming-and-shaming, instant suspensions implicit insignificant procedural oregon rectifiable issues and treating administrative oversights with harsh penal measures - make panic alternatively than reform," said Niranjan Laxman Shetty, ineligible president of hospitality relation Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association.
Responding to the criticism, Mundhe said his raids are lawful and that suspensions are lone for utmost cases. However, immoderate businesses person publically claimed that they've been unopen implicit insignificant violations, without informing oregon a accidental to amended first.
His actions person besides faced ineligible challenges. In immoderate cases, courts person overturned licence suspensions, ordered compensation for affected businesses and criticised the regulator's approach.
In August, for instance, the Bombay precocious tribunal ordered, external Mundhe's section to wage 500,000 rupees ($5,291; £3,893) successful compensation to a sweets store whose licence remained suspended adjacent aft a reinspection recovered it 98% compliant with the law.
The tribunal said the regulator's intentions were "laudable" but that it had "gone overboard".
The judges besides raised a question - was the regulator applying the aforesaid scrutiny to authorities establishments arsenic it was to backstage businesses?
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