Manufacturer of banned tobacco products must ace action, rules Madras high court

CHENNAI: Madras high court has refused to quash a criminal prosecution initiated against the Delhi-based Jaiswal Products, whose tobacco products were seized in large quantities from Tamil Nadu, saying the manufacturer too is liable for prosecution.

"The manufacturer of the banned product is liable to face the prosecution since their product, which is a chewable tobacco with nicotine, is a food," Justice G Jayachandran said. He also refused to accept the contention of the manufacturer that its product does not fall under the category of ‘food' warranting action under the Food Safety and Standards Act.

The petitioner, being the manufacturer of the product prohibited for sale in Tamil Nadu, is bound to explain how their product found its way into the state. They are supposed to provide the details about their distribution of the product with sales invoices containing batch numbers, dates of manufacturing, and expiry dates to show that they distributed the products only to the states where there is no prohibition, the court said.

"Strangely, in all these cases, the petitioner has not disclosed any of these details to the food safety officers who issued show-cause notices before launching prosecution. A huge quantity of the banned product found across the state cannot be construed as sold or transported to Tamil Nadu without the connivance of the manufacturers," the Justice Jayachandran asserted.

The product of the petitioner seized from the sellers in Tamil Nadu cannot be without nexus. Anything contrary has to be proved by the petitioner in the course of the trial, the court added.

According to the petitioner, IMFL manufactured and sold in the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry, which are transported clandestinely into Tamil Nadu and sold illegally, for which the manufacturers are not prosecuted.

The liquor company which manufactures and sells in the territory which permits such manufacturing and sale, cannot be prosecuted for the mere presence of their product in the states where there is a prohibition, Jaiswal Products said.