SC Stays Karnataka HC Judgment On Pictorial Warnings On Tobacco Products.

Health Of Citizens First: SC Stays Karnataka HC Judgment On Pictorial Warnings On Tobacco Products.

The Supreme Court today stayed the Karnataka high court order quashing the 2014 government regulation that packets of tobacco products must carry pictorial warning covering 85% of the packaging space, saying that “health of a citizen has primacy”.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud was unimpressed with the submissions of the Tobacco Institute of India  that the interim stay would harm the fundamental right to do business of tobacco manufacturers.

“Considering the submission advanced at the Bar and keeping in view the objects and reasons of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 and the measures taken by the state, we think it appropriate to direct stay of operation of the judgment and order passed by the high court of Karnataka,” the bench said.