The Bombay High Court bench of justices VM Kanade and MS Karnik noted that new rule would apply only to products manufactured and packed after the date of enforcement.
The Bombay High Court on Saturday provided interim relief to cigarette companies by stating that the Centre's new rule to have large pictorial warnings covering at least 85% of the cigarette packets cannot be implemented retrospectively. The Maharashtra government was thus asked to release stocks of over hundreds of crores seized from warehouses of these companies.
In a plea against the state Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) action on April 4, wherein goods worth Rs 300 crore were seized on the basis of the Centre's notification, cigarette majors ITC and Godfrey Philips had moved the court earlier this month.
According to a Hindustan Times report, a bench of justices VM Kanade and MS Karnik noted that the new rule would apply only to products manufactured and packed on or after the date of enforcement i.e April 1, 2016. The cigarette companies had argued that products taken into the custody of FDA were produced and packaged in March this year.
The Health Ministry's notification dated September 24, 2015 made it mandatory for producers of cigarettes and other tobacco products to display large pictorial warnings on their products. This amendment came into force on April 1, 2016.
However, the rule has not gone down well with the tobacco industry who say that it considerably limits space for their own branding, thus violating their constitutional right to practise trade. Earlier, before the implementation of the notification, a 40% warning was expected to be printed on the packets.
Cigarette companies had challenged the amendment in the Supreme Court, which was dismissed by the apex Court on May 4. The Karnataka High Court was directed to club and hear the pleas of these companies.
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