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Tamil Nadu
Tobacco a food: Madras HC refuses to nix FSSA case against Hans
Firm can’t say it has no nexus with stockist without disclosing info it is privy to, says court
Madras High Court
Madras High Court(File photo| Express)
R Sivakumar
Updated on:
18 Sep 2024, 7:09 am
2 min read
CHENNAI: Madras High Court has refused to quash the criminal proceedings initiated under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 against a Delhi-based tobacco manufacturer for the sale of their product in Tamil Nadu. The court recently ruled that the manufacturer of Hans Chhap Tobacco, Jaiswal Products, is liable to be prosecuted as the product falls under the category of food since it is a chewable tobacco with the presence of nicotine.
The case was registered under sections 58 and 59 (i) of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) in 2018 on the strength of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations Act, 2011 after the food safety officers seized sachets of Hans Chhap Tobacco stocked by one Suresh of Tiruvannamalai. Lab tests confirmed the presence of nicotine in the product.
The manufacturer approached the High Court praying for quashing of the case pending in a judicial magistrate court, on the grounds that tobacco does not fall within the definition of ‘food’ and initiating action under the Food Safety and Standards Act itself is baseless and without any legal sanction.
Justice G Jayachandran, while dismissing the petitions of the manufacturer, noted that the division bench of the Madras High Court has consistently held that the ‘tobacco with or without additives is a food product’ as defined under section 3 (j) of the FSSA.
Referring to the question of whether the manufacturer can be prosecuted for the sale of the product in a state where such a product is banned, the judge noted the manufacturer has exclusive knowledge and information about how the consignment was moved out of their unit but did not share the information with the Food Safety officers when they issued a show cause notice.
The judge said non-disclosure of the details of the sale and keeping silent on it “leads to statutory presumption” that the product was knowingly distributed in a state where there is a ban.
“Without disclosing the information, which is within his (manufacturer) exclusive knowledge, he cannot take a plea that there is no nexus between them (manufacturer and stockist),” Justice Jayachandran stated. Additional Advocate General (AAG) P Kumaresan, appeared for the Food Safety Department.
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