Delhi High Court Upholds Stay On Action Against Companies Over 'Surrogate Advertisements' For Promoting 'Vimal Elaichi', 'Dilbagh Pan Masala'

The Delhi High Court today upheld the stay on the show cause notices issued to two companies in 2018 by the Director General of Health Services over the allegations of indulging in surrogate The Delhi High Court today upheld the stay on the show cause notices issued to two companies in 2018 by the Director General of Health Services over the allegations of indulging in surrogate Justice Dharmesh Sharma dismissed the appeals moved by DGHS against the trial court orders which granted stay on the show cause notices in the suits filed by the companies, Som Pan Products Private Limited and Vishnu Pouch Packaging Private Limited. “When that legal right exists, certainly the appellant/defendant could only take action for banning publicity or It added: “Indeed, there is the issue of public health hazard but then when the government has not chosen to ban it, both parameters of balance of convenience and irreparable loss tilt towards the respondent/plaintiff.” A show cause notice was issued to Som Pan Products for displaying a board display of Dilbagh Pan Masala at a flyover for an event and a community marriage function. The DGHS alleged that the In December 2021, the trial court stayed the operation of the show cause notices, and the two companies were allowed to carry out their Upholding the trial court order, Justice Sharma noted that both companies were not engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, or sale of tobacco, gutka, bidi, or zarda in any manner in the country. “In other words, the plea that in order to circumvent the ban on the sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco, the same or other sister manufacturers and traders are selling pan masala sans tobacco with flavored chewing tobacco in separate sachets but often conjointly sold together by the same vendors from the same premises, is a matter of evidence to be decided during the trial,” the court said.