SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the government to take necessary steps for banning gutkha, pan masala and other tobacco products in the state and file a compliance report in this regard within a week.
The directions were issued today by a Division Bench comprising Justice JP Singh and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar.
The bench is hearing a PIL filed by Sajjad Gilani on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir Voluntary Health and Development Association, wherein a ban has been sought on the manufacture and sale of gutkha and other smokeless tobacco products in the state.
“The state through the Chief Secretary is directed to take necessary steps for imposing a ban on the use and manufacture of gutkha and other tobacco products and file a compliance report in this regards within a week,” the high court said in its orders passed today.
The bench issued the orders after perusal of the government response, wherein it had been indicated that it (government) was considering banning the use of gutkha, pan masala and tobacco products in the state.
The bench said it (court) sees no justification in the government’s assertion that it was awaiting orders from the Finance Department even as it (government) had admitted that gutkha and other tobacco products carried health hazards.
In the response submitted through Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, it had been said the Finance Department’s views were being sought as the ban involved huge financial implications.
(TNS)
