SC breathes fire over smoke warning delay

The Supreme Court (SC) has sought a response from the Centre on an NGO’s allegations that the government, under pressure from the “tobacco lobby”, was dragging its feet on issuing statutory pictorial warnings on cigarette and tobacco products.

“Why are you not implementing it? Millions are being affected,” a bench of justices BN Aggrawal and GS Singhvi told the government in a terse observation while issuing a notice on the application moved by NGO Health For Millions.

The NGO complained that the government framed the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules in 2006 to make it mandatory for all tobacco products to display statutory pictorial warnings. But “it was not implemented under pressure from the tobacco lobby”.

Under the 2006 law, the government had planned to display “skull and bones” and a body on packages and labels. Later, the government amended the law with a promise that it would be implemented from December 1, 2007.

The NGO said the government moved an application in the SC promising to implement the law from March 17, 2008. Thereafter, another application was moved by the government promising to implement the law from November 2008. This was delayed to May 2009. The petitioner feared the government would again delay the implementation as the “tobacco lobby” had allegedly filed petitions in various high courts seeking a stay.

The NGO also wanted the apex court to direct the government to ensure that cigarette packets display the actual content of nicotine and tar — the two key ingredients
reportedly responsible for causing cancer.