CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Government has extended the prohibition on the manufacture, transport, storage, distribution, and sale of chewable food products containing Tobacco & Nicotine. 

The state's commissioner for food safety and drug administration has announced the ban, which will go into force on May 23 and last for a year. This decision was made after the Madras High Court's order lifting the ban on these products was delayed by the Supreme Court.

The Madras High Court's decision to overturn a notification from May 2018 that forbade the sale, manufacture, and transportation of gutkha and other tobacco-based products in Tamil Nadu has been upheld by the Supreme Court.  The high court's verdict was overturned by the judges KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna on the bench.

The Supreme Court acknowledged the need for a delay when the state government appealed the high court's ruling. The right of the state to protect its citizens' health
The Tamil Nadu government's attorneys, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and additional advocate general Amit Anand Tiwari, argued that the state had the authority to protect its residents' health. Senior solicitors representing the government and the businesses engaged in the trade of gutkha and pan masala made arguments when the Supreme Court requested a response to the suit contesting the Madras High Court's order. 

The high court had invalidated the notification, finding that it exceeded the authority of the food safety commissioner and raising questions about the legitimacy of granting such authority in the absence of a legal framework. 

In its appeal, the state government emphasised the risks to one's health posed by smoking as well as the legality of the laws banning the use of tobacco and nicotine in foods.

The state government did not have the right to enforce a permanent ban, according to the tobacco traffickers and producers, who suggested that criminal prosecution for violations of food standards would be more suitable.

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