Thiruvananthpuram:
The Oomen Chandy government has vowed to take serious action against officials for issuing a wrong government order, allowing sale of tobacco products near schools in the state.
"We issued a government order in June last year prohibiting shops located within 400 metres from any school from selling tobacco products. The Central Government rule prohibits selling of tobacco products within just 100 metres of schools," said the Chief Minister.
He added that in May the state's local self government department issued a new order which read that tobacco products could be sold in shops outside of 100 metres.
"Only the cabinet can revoke the decision to increase the area from 100 to 400 metres. We see this new order as a serious violation and we have asked the secretary and deputy secretary to give an explanation. Once we hear from them, appropriate action would be taken as this is a serious error," Mr Chandy added.
In a 1999 ruling, Justice K Narayana Kurup of the Kerala High Court had banned smoking in public places.
Studies have found that 10.7 per cent of the adult population in Kerala is hooked to tobacco.