Hyderabad: High Court dismisses pleas of tobacco traders

Hyderabad: The High Court Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A Rajashekar Reddy on Tuesday dismissed the entire batch of 161 writ petitions filed by various traders dealing with manufacture, sale, purchase and storage of tobacco products such as pan masala, gutka, khaini, zarda etc., in the State. The Chief Justice expressed that the Bombay High Court had dealt with issues similar to the issues raised in the batch of writ petitions.

Stating that the deaths caused due to consumption of tobacco products were more than the deaths caused due to Covid 19, the CJ held that the restrictions imposed by the State banning tobacco products in Telangana were in the larger interest of human life and were reasonable restrictions. "In no way, the tobacco traders can carry out business," CJ said, dismissing the petitions.