After govt outlaws e-cigarettes, NGOs plan to move SC seeking ban on traditional cigarettes

After the government prohibited electronic cigarettes citing health risks, two NGOs are planning to move the Supreme Court seeking a ban on conventional cigarettes, arguing they are more harmful, and other carcinogenic tobacco products.

Delhi-based NGO URJA (United Residents Joint Action) and Hyderabad-based group VchangeU are in the process of filing a writ and class suit in which they are also demanding compensation -- Rs 5 lakh for those suffering medical costs due to smoking related ailments, and Rs 10 lakhs for those who lost an earning member of the family.

The government recently issued an ordinance making the production, import, export, transport, sale or advertisements of such "alternative" smoking devices a cognizable offence, and attracting a jail term and fine "in the interest of public health to protect the people from harm".

The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Bill, 2019, which seeks to replace the ordinance issued on September 18, was passed by Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

E-cigarettes promoting trade bodies, users and other stakeholders have been vehemently opposing the government's decision to ban e-cigarettes, claiming they were
The founder and President of VchangeU, Vijay Bhasker Yetapu, who is also one of the petitioners, said the government decision has opened up a favourable opportunity for activists and people suffering from tobacco addiction as a government "sensitive to the ills of nicotine addiction would not discriminate between different forms of the same."