PIL seeks stop sale of cigarette pack without proper display of warning; HC seeks Centre's stand

The Delhi High Court Friday asked the Centre, the AAP government and the police to reply to a PIL seeking complete prohibition on sale of cigarette and tobacco products which do not properly display the statutory warnings as required under the law.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the ministries of health and finance, the Delhi government and the police on the plea which has claimed that several tobacco companies are selling cigarettes and other products in packs which do not display the warnings appropriately.

The petitioner, Gagan Kumar Singhal, a lawyer, has said in his petition that under the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules of 2008, 85 per cent of the principal area of the packaging has to display the health warning -- both pictorial and textual.

The petition has said that according to the Rules, 60 per cent of the pack has to display the pictorial health warning and 25 per cent of the packaging has to show the textual warning.

It said the rule was notified on April 3 last and had come into force on September 1, 2018.

Singhal told the court that cigarettes and tobacco products were being sold publicly in violation of the rule and the notification.