The petitioner submitted that the directives issued in the high court judgment banning public smoking had not been fully implemented
The court was considering a PIL filed by Monamma Kokkad of Ernakulam, whose petition had led to the landmark Kerala HC judgment banning smoking in public places in 1999. Nearly three decades after the judgment, and despite Parliament’s enactment of Cotpa (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2016) in the interim, public smoking had resurged across Kochi’s commercial and residential hubs, exposing nonsmokers, children and the elderly to tobacco smoke in continuing violation of Article 21, she added. The bench further directed the police to continue complying with the directions issued by the HC in its 1999 judgment and strictly enforce the provisions of the Act.
The bench observed that it could not be said that the police had failed to take adequate measures to implement the Act, and that a few isolated incidents may not justify a finding that its provisions had not been complied with. Kochi : The Kerala high court has directed the state govt, state health department and other stakeholders to conduct awareness programmes highlighting the legal provisions prohibiting smoking in public places and the harmful effects of passive smoking. In her PIL, Kokkad submitted that the directives issued in the high court judgment banning public smoking had not been fully implemented. She alleged that small shops across Kochi city actively facilitated smoking in public places by supplying lighters to consumers immediately outside their premises. She also suggested enhancing the penalty prescribed for violations. However, on perusing the reply of the state police chief to the petitioner’s application under the RTI Act, the court noted that the state police had taken adequate measures to implement the Act and had furnished details of the penalties recovered for violations.