Point of law: Sale of the tobacco products -Act and the Rules does not intend the incorporation of warning in loose and individual cigarettes; Courts cannot legislate law, which is the absolute domain of the parliament and State legislatures, and the Executive, and when called upon this Court to interpret Section 7(2) in a specific manner, collaterally the petitioner seeking a relief of directing the Government to make necessary legislation or the Court to make necessary legislation to satisfy the interpretation given by the petitioner to Section 7 (2) of Act 2003

JUDGMENT :

SHAJI P. CHALY, J.

1. This is a public interest writ petition filed by a person claiming to be a social worker and a resident of Malappuram District. According to the petitioner, he is an anti-tobacco activist and several of his articles in that regard were published in the prominent Malayalam dailies.

2. The subject issues raised arise under the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), hereinafter called Act 2003. According to the petitioner even though the petitioner and other interested colleagues have conducted protests against use of tobacco and sought for correction in the matter of sale of the tobacco products in terms of the provisions of Act 2003, the authorities have not cared to take any action and therefore the petitioner has no other remedy than to approach this Court. The paramount issue projected is that, as per the provisions of the Act 2003, even the individual cigarettes should contain the statutory warning as stipulated under the Act in question so as to serve the purpose of statutory warning. In the said backdrop petitioner has raised the following contentions.

3. That, as per the statistics of the tobacco free union, over one million people die from tobacco related diseases in India every year. The work of the Tobacco Free Union and their statistics brought wide discussion and thinking in all the countries. The Union of India has also framed some stringent rules to restrict and reduce the use of tobacco in India including the Act 2003. Even though tobacco is not banned, several restrictions were made to reduce the use of tobacco among the people of India.

4. That the Act, 2003, is the major enactment in our country in this regard. One of the main objectives of the above Act is to ensure effective protection to non-smokers from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke and to protect children and young people from being addicted to the use of tobacco. There are substantial tobacco free ground policy tool kits in the above Act. The Central Government has enacted the Act 2003 pursuant to the resolution passed by 39th and 43rd World Health Assemblies and based on Constitutional mandate contained in Article 47 of the Constitution of India regarding improvement of public health. Moreover, it is enacted to effectively curb the menace of cigarette and other tobacco smoking among people, which has a detrimental and deleterious effect on the life and liberty of the people of the country. After enactment of the COTPA in 2003, several amendments were made to the Act so as to impose stringent conditions in production, supply, distribution and exhibition of tobacco and tobacco products.

5. Petitioner has further submitted that it is an admitted fact that cigarette smoking is injurious to health and it causes significant problem to the smoker as well as to the other people. The smoker directly gets injured from cigarette smoking as the first hand smoker by way of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, cancer and some other diseases. But at the same time, it affects the secondhand smoker also. Secondhand smoke exposure is a significant problem in India both indoor and outdoor. A study has shown that 70% to 80% of the male smokers regularly smoke at home. Three in every 10 adults working indoors are exposed to secondhand smoke. In home, secondhand smoke exposure remain high, especially among children. Apart from the secondhand smoke, there is third hand smoke, which is the fraction of tobacco smoke that persist in indoor environment after smoking. This remains even after most of the airborne components of the smoke have cleared. Children are at increased risk when exposed to third hand smoke toxicants due to their exploratory behavior and metabolic activity. There is increased risk of cancer in children due to third hand smoke.

6. Petitioner has also submitted that