SC to decide on rotation of cigarette pack warnings

The Supreme Court sought to ascertain whether it is compulsory for tobacco companies to change the pictorial health warning on cigarette packets every year, as the law provides for rotation of such signs but the industry has voiced objections.



A Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar wanted to know the views of the cigarette manufacturers on the issue and questioned why leading companies like ITC and Godfrey Phillips were opposing rotation of pictorial warning on their packets, even though this is explicitly provided for in the Packaging and Labelling Rules, 2008.
On this, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for India Tobacco Company (ITC), and Mukul Rohtagi, representing Godfrey Philips, submitted that the present pictorial warning on their packets was enough to give the message.
Both advocates, however, acknowledged that the law has provision for such changes.