Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 26: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey has directed the Government to ban the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products which are not having 85% specified health warning and destroy those products, which are not satisfying the rules.
These directives were issued in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Dr Syed Khurshid Ahmad, Professor in SKIMS-Medical College, Srinagar with expertise in the field of Microbiology.
According to the petitioner, smoking is the unnecessary menace in the society and has to be curbed by every possible method. He submitted that as per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-India (GATS-2010) conducted in the age group of 15 years and above, over 35% of the adult population consumes tobacco in one form or the other and majority of them are illiterate or semi-literate.
Considering the dangers of tobacco use, the Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 was enacted to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products which are injurious to health, the petitioner said, adding for implementing the Act the Government vide GSR No. 727 dated 15.10.2014 notified the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) (Amendment) Rules, 2014 with effect from 01.04.2015 and as per these rules 85% of the principal display area of each tobacco product should cover pictorial/textual health warning.
After hearing Advocate Syed Musaib for the PIL whereas Advocate General DC Raina for the State, the DB observed, “having regard to the notification issued, stating that specified health warning shall cover at least 85% of the principal area on each package, of which 60% shall cover pictorial health warning and 25% shall cover textual health warning and shall be positioned on the top edge of the package, the same is bound to be implemented by the tobacco product manufacturers as well as the persons who are selling the tobacco products either wholesale or on retail”.
Allowing the writ petition, the DB directed the respondents to ensure implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco products (Packaging and Labelling), Amendment Rules, 2014 and ban the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products not having 85% specified health warning. “Those tobacco products which are not satisfying the rule, have to be seized and destroyed”, the DB said, adding “those tobacco products which have been manufactured prior to the implementation of the Rules be allowed to be sold without any disturbance till the stocks possessed by the sellers are sold out”.
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