New Delhi: A division bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday upheld a government notification prohibiting the manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of tobacco, pan masala, gutka and similar products in the national capital.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Yashwant Varma set aside a single bench’s order on 27 September last year which had quashed the various government notifications which stopped the manufacture, storage, and sale of smokeless tobacco in the interest of public health.
Ban on gutka/tobacco back in Delhi.
Delhi High Court’s division bench upholds government notification prohibiting the manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of tobacco, pan masala, gutka and similar products in the national capital. #Gutkaban #TobaccoBan #DelhiHighCourt pic.twitter.com/GzP39Zops1
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) April 10, 2023
The single judge had said the notifications were issued in a mechanical manner and the authorities exceeded the powers vested in them.
Since 2015, seven notifications have been issued by the Delhi government’s Commissioner of Food Safety.
Chewing or smokeless tobacco was first banned by Maharashtra in 2002. Ten years later, state food commissioners followed suit. These bans were renewed annually, which kept the cheap, deadly tobacco sachets off the shelves.
Also read: Inside story of how billionaires of big-brand pan masala industry got around an ad ban
Source: The Print
