SC refuses stay on K’taka HC order on pictorial warning on tobacco products

The high court had on December 15 struck down the 2014 amendment rules that mandated the pictorial health warning to cover 85 per cent of the tobacco product packaging space.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant any interim stay on the Karnataka high court verdict which quashed the government regulation that packets of tobacco products must carry pictorial warning covering 85 per cent of the packaging space.

Supreme Court, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: Sunil Saxena/HT 18.09.2007 October2009

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the high court to upload the judgement on its website and fixed the appeal against it for further hearing on January 8 next year.

Several petitions, including the one filed by NGO Health for Millions Trust, have challenged the high court verdict.

The high court had on December 15 struck down the 2014 amendment rules that mandated the pictorial health warning to cover 85 per cent of the tobacco product packaging space, holding that they violated the constitutional norms.