Delhi L-G extends ban on tobacco products for another year

The move prohibits the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of tobacco – whether flavoured, scented or mixed with any addictive – and going by the name or form of gutkha, paan masala, flavoured or scented tobacco or kharra.

L-G House officials said banned products include packed or unpacked tobacco products and will remain enforced for another year under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

To be followed by a notification from the city’s Food Safety Department, Saxena said it needed to be “enforced strictly” and that “no lackadaisical attitude” towards its enforcement in the city would be tolerated.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under regulation 2.3.4. of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, has prohibited and restricted sale of products containing tobacco and nicotine to be used as ingredients in any food products.

In April, the Delhi High Court had also affirmed a ban imposed by the food safety commissioner on manufacture, storage and sale of Gutka, Paan Masala, flavoured tobacco and similar products in Delhi.

The Court had also set aside a September 2022 decision of a single judge of the High Court quashing the ban and allowed the appeals filed by the Centre and Delhi government against it and dismissed the objections raised by entities in tobacco business against the prohibition notifications issued earlier from 2015 till 2021.