Delhi HC orders compliance with law prohibiting manufacture, sale of e-cigarettes
New Delhi, (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the authorities to ensure compliance with the law prohibiting manufacture, sale and distribution of e-cigarettes.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma refused to entertain a PIL seeking constitution of a court-monitored committee to review effective implementation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage, and Advertisement) Act, 2019 and noted that action was already being taken by the State machinery pursuant to the law, including conducting raids.
The court nonetheless asked the authorities to take all possible steps to ensure online sale of e-cigarettes, as alleged in the plea, does not take place.
It also said the Delhi police shall take steps to ensure that e-cigarettes are not sold near and around schools and colleges.
"As stated above, raids are being carried out and the Act itself provides for a complete mechanism, this court does not find a reason to interfere. This court does not find it expedient to interfere under writ jurisdiction in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case," said the bench, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad.
"However, the State is directed to ensure compliance of the Act of 2019 by conducting more periodical checks... in all localities in and around Delhi," it said.
Petitioners Vinayak Gupta and Anubhav Tyagi argued there was a "vacuum" between the Act and its implementation and e-cigarettes are even "abundantly available within 5 km" of the high court but only two FIRs have been registered since the Act came into being.
The petitioners submitted that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said e-cigarettes are extremely harmful as they cause damage to the DNA.
The Delhi government's standing counsel, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, said the administration was taking action against the sale of e-cigarettes on its own as also on the basis of complaints.
The petition sought a direction to police to "forthwith seize the entire contraband of the illegal stock of e-cigarettes and other related substances" and to the Centre to "immediately remove" all related content from online websites.
The plea sought directions to "all the respondents in order to expediently take control of the e-cigarettes industry" under the Act, find out the "source" of its illegal sale in the city and ensure introduction of public awareness programmes against its use.
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
