NEW DELHI: In a relief to a pan masala company, a court has stayed a notice sent to it by the Directorate General of Health Services for allegedly indulging in surrogate or indirect advertisement of tobacco products in violation of the law.
While allowing the company to carry out its ad campaign, Additional Sessions Judge Rajinder Singh said that even though the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act prohibits display and sale of tobacco products, there is no specific prohibition regarding surrogate advertising.
The judge said that the sale of gutka is banned and in such circumstances, there is no reason for the company to indulge in a surrogate advertisement for the promotion of a product which it cannot sell in the country.
DGHS claimed that in 2005, rules were laid down to ban the advertisement of tobacco products but the company carried out a surrogate ad campaign, whereby the product Dilbagh Pan Masala was advertised to promote tobacco products under the brand name Dilbagh.