CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday remitted a writ appeal challenging Odisha government’s ban on food products containing tobacco or nicotine to the single-judge bench, seeking clarification on certain aspects of its August 21 judgement upholding the prohibition.
A division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash disposed of the appeal filed by a Cuttack-based tobacco products manufacturer, expecting the appellant to approach the single judge with a fresh petition seeking clarification.
In the August 21 judgement, Justice SK Panigrahi had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by companies manufacturing and selling chewing tobacco. The petitioners had questioned the state government’s authority to impose the ban under the FSSA.
The single judge had upheld the government’s January 21 notification, holding that it was consistent with the FSSA and the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011.
The division bench has sought clarity on the interpretation and scope of certain observations in the judgement, particularly concerning the definition of food, the use of tobacco as an ingredient and the extent of the state’s prohibition.
Justice Panigrahi had held that manufactured or processed chewing tobacco intended for human consumption falls within the statutory definition of “food” under the FSSA. He had reasoned that tobacco does not cease to be an ingredient merely because it forms the predominant component of the finished product.
The judgement by the single judge also explained that Regulation 2.3.4 prohibits the use of tobacco and nicotine as ingredients in food products, without distinguishing between products containing a larger or smaller proportion of tobacco.
On the petitioners’ argument that smokeless tobacco was being treated differently from cigarettes and bidis, Justice Panigrahi had observed that the regulation does not prohibit tobacco in every form. Rather, it restricts tobacco and nicotine when used as ingredients in food products.
However, he clarified that the state notification must be enforced only as a measure implementing the relevant provisions of the FSSA and Regulation 2.3.4, and not as an independent prohibition on tobacco products outside the statutory framework.
