A government order issued in 2013 with regard to prohibition of gutka in Tamil Nadu needs modification complained a petition filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Monday. The petition wants the ban to be perpetual instead of being extended by each year.
The petitioner, R. Senthil Murugan of Madurai, in his public interest litigation petition, said that the government order issued in 2013 by the Health and Family Welfare Department read, “ .....the Commissioner of Food Safety of the State of Tamil Nadu, in the interest of public health, hereby prohibits the manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of gutka and pan masala and any other food products containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients, by whatsoever name it is available in the market, in the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu for a period of one year from the date of issue of this order.”
The government order needs modification to the extent of changing the last line from “for a period of one year from the date of issue of this order” to “perpetually from the date of issue of this order,” he said. Further, the petitioner complained that the youth of the country were addicted to tobacco and nicotine and in order to put an end to this, a case under Section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code must be registered against those selling the products in violation of the government order, he said.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar heard the petition and adjourned the hearing by a week.