Madras HC upholds prosecution against Jaiswal Products for prohibited sale of tobacco | Chennai News

Chennai: The Madras High Court has refused to entertain a plea against Delhi-based Jaiswal Productswhose tobacco products were seized in large quantities in Tamil Nadu, and said the manufacturer was also facing criminal prosecution.
“The manufacturer of the banned product must face prosecution as its product, a chewing tobacco containing nicotine, is a food item,” Justice G Jayachandran said. He also rejected the manufacturer’s contention that its product did not fall under the category of “food items” which would attract action under the Food safety and standards law.
The plaintiff is the manufacturer of the product whose sale is banned in Tamil Nadu. He has to explain how his product entered the state. He has to provide details of distribution of the product with sales invoices containing batch numbers, manufacturing dates and expiry dates to prove that he has distributed the products only in states where there is no ban, the court said.
“Curiously, in all these cases, the complainant did not disclose any of these details to the food safety officials who issued summons before initiating criminal proceedings. A huge quantity of the banned product found across the State cannot be said to have been sold or transported to Tamil Nadu without the connivance of the manufacturers,” Justice Jayachandran said.
The plaintiff’s product seized by the sellers in Tamil Nadu cannot be unrelated and the plaintiff will have to prove otherwise during the course of the proceedings, the court added.
According to the petitioner, IMFL manufactured and sold the chemicals in the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry, which were secretly transported to Tamil Nadu and sold illegally without any prosecution of the manufacturers.
According to Jaiswal Products, liquor manufacturers who manufacture and sell their products in areas where such manufacture and sale is permitted cannot be prosecuted solely for the presence of their products in states where there is a ban.