Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Enforce ban on tobacco sale near schools:Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police to immediately enforce the Control of Tobacco Products Act which prohibits the sale of tobacco products within a 100-yard radius of educational institutions.
A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna also said police officers of areas where tobacco products are found selling with the 100-yard radius of educational institutions would be held responsible.
The Bench asked the police to file a status report within three days on the compliance of the Court orders.
The Bench passed the directions after going through a survey report filed by the World Lung Foundation-South Asia, the petitioner in the matter, on the sale of tobacco products within a100-yard radius of educational institutions in the city.
According to the survey, as many as 322 educational institutions had 603 retail outlets within a100-yard radius around them selling tobacco products.
At the time of filing of the petition, the petitioner had said that retail outlets were found selling tobacco products within a 100-yard radius of as many as 28 colleges of Delhi University and five schools.
Taking the petition on record, the Court had asked the police to file a status report on February 2. In the report, the police said of the total outlets found selling tobacco products around these institutions as reported by the petitioner, some were shut down while others had shifted to selling other things.
However, counsel for the petitioner rebutted the claim of the police with the support of a fresh survey report which revealed that tobacco products were being sold around hundreds of schools in the Capital.
In the latest survey, the petitioner found that tobacco products were being sold within a 100 -yard radius of as many as 322 schools across the city

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