India
Two tobacco manufacturers got relief from the Delhi high court, which recently restrained the state government from taking action against them. The manufacturers had challenged the government’s ban on sellers and distributors of chewable tobacco from selling their product in New Dehli.
However the court has not stayed the entire notification issued by the food safety commissioner of Delhi government on March 25 banning storage, sale, distribution, and packing of chewable tobacco products in the capital. Already the state government has agreed in court that no coercive action will be taken against those tobacco firms which are “similarly placed to petitioners”.
Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain had banned the sale, purchase, and storage of chewable tobacco from March 30, saying enforcement teams of the city’s police as well as the health department have been asked to conduct surprise inspections across the capital to ensure that the ban is implemented. No such ban was ever enforced on cigarettes, however.