1. Common questions of law have been raised by the learned counsel appearing for the parties and hence, these matters are disposed of by a common judgment.

2. One of the contentions raised by the petitioners in these cases is that in order to attract section 6 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (34 of 2003), the sale of tobacco products should be to a person who is under 18 years of age and the sale must also be in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational institution.

3. Section 6 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (34 of 2003) reads as follows:

"No person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit sale of, cigarette or any other tobacco product - (a) to any person who is under eighteen years of age, and (b) in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational institution."

4. The petitioners contend that since the word 'and' is used conjunctively those two conditions should be satisfied to hold that a person has committed the offence under section 6 of the Act. Its penal provision is contained in section 24 of that Act.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor, Sri. Rajesh Vijayan, would submit that though the word 'and' is used, it can be discerned in the particular context, that it is used disjunctively.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that while the language of the statute is plain and clear then the literal rule of interpretation has to be applied and if so, ordinarily there would be no scope for interpreting words differently than giving effect to the natural meaning. A close reading of section 6 would, according to the prosecution, leave no doubt that the word 'and' is used in this particular provision in a disjunctive sense. The two portions of section 6 can be severed and understood as follows. The first part can be read as: No person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit sale of, cigarette or any other tobacco product to any person who is under eighteen years of age. That means irrespective of the place of sale, if the aforesaid products are sold to a person who is under eighteen years of age, then certainly it would be an offence under section 6 of the Act. The second part of section 6 can be read as -no person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit sale of, cigarette or any other tobacco product in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational institution. That means irrespective of the age of the customer, if any such tobacco product is sold in an area within a radius of hundred yards of any educational institution, then it will attract the offence under section 6 of the Act. That means, the first part of the section makes it an offence focusing on the age of the purchaser irrespective of the place of sale; the second part of the section makes sale in that prohibited area an offence irrespective of the age of that person. Thus the section takes in two offences; both are distinct and separate. It can never be the intention of the legislature that tobacco products can be sold to a person under 18 years of age at a place beyond hundred yards of the educational institution, nor could have been the intention that one can sell such products in that prohibited area to a person above the age of 18 years.

7. The Act was introduced since the need for a comprehensive legislature to prohibit advertising and regulation of production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and tobacco products was felt by the Parliament. It is to achieve the avowed object of reducing the exposure of people to tobacco smoke (passive smoking) and to prevent the sale of tobacco products to minors and to protect them from becoming victims of misleading advertisements, the various provisions were incorporated, the learned Prosecutor submit