Tamil Nadu: Gutka and Pan Masala Ban Revoked By Madras High Court

The Madras High Court revoked the ban on the sale and manufacture of gutka and pan masala products in the state.

The state had banned the sale and manufacture of these products under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSSA) through yearly notifications issued by the Commissioner for Food Safety. The ban was started in 2013 and has continued since then.

A bench of Justices R Subramanian and K Kumaresh Babu said that the Act does not provide power to the commissioner to completely ban the products. The commissioner has the power to temporarily ban certain products only in the case of emergencies.

It added that continued operation of the ban was thus a violation of the Act and quashed the notifications issued by the Commissioner for Food Safety.

During this time, there have been many cases of gutka and pan masala being illegally brought into the state.

The most prominent among them is a case against former Health minister C Vijayabhaskar, Director General of Police (DGP) T K Rajendran, former minister B V Ramana and former Chennai Police Commissioner S George. It is alleged that kickbacks were paid by manufacturers of these tobacco-based products to Vijayabhaskar, Rajendran and George for allowing illegal sale despite the ban.

The Gutka Scam came to light in August 2016 when Income-Tax Department conducted searches at the home of Madhava Rao, who owns the MDM brand of gutka. Income Tax officials recovered a diary that had details of bribes being allegedly paid to various government officials and ministers.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a supplementary charge sheet against the accused in November 2022.