Bigger Pictorial Warnings on Tobacco Products a Must: Rajasthan Court to Centre

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has ordered the Centre to ensure that larger pictorial warnings are carried on all tobacco products. The Centre has time till October 29 to implement the order. In case of violation, the Heath secretary will face contempt charges, the court said.

The pictorial warnings must now cover 85% of the space.

In March, the Centre had indefinitely delayed the implementation of bigger pictorial warnings after a parliamentary committee had asked for more time to take a decision on the matter.

The committee cited a letter by BJP lawmaker Shyama Charan Gupta, which said beedis were not harmful since they were a natural product and contained very little tobacco. In his letter, Mr Gupta, who also owns a huge beedi manufacturing unit, further said there was no medical evidence that beedis caused cancer.

In his report, committee chairman and BJP lawmaker Dilip Gandhi had said, "increase in size of specified health warning from 40% to 85% is arbitrary, excessive and unreasonable."  

Advertisement

He asked that legislation in this regard not be hurried as it would hit the livelihood of lakhs of people associated with cultivation of tobacco and the manufacture and sale of tobacco products.

But in July, citing larger public interest, the court had directed the Centre to immediately implement bigger warnings. Today, the High Court refused to vacate that order. "We will not vacate our order 200%," said acting Chief Justice Ajit Singh. The next hearing in the case is on September 29.

Advertisement

Around one million people die in India every year following tobacco related ailments. On Tuesday, the Haryana government banned the manufacture and sale of gutkha, pan masala, and other tobacco products in the state.