Liquor and tobacco manufacturers to mention ingredients on label

New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today directed the state government to submit a report stating the details about the notification and punishment to the liquor and tobacco product manufacturers who did not mention the ingredients on their labels.

A division bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice H R Malhotra directed the Delhi Excise Commissioner, who was present in the court, to submit a report stating the details about the notification and punishment to the violators of the provision by March 22, the next date of hearing.

Filing a PIL, Puneet Gupta has sought the direction of the court to the State Excise Department for making it mandetory by the manufacturers of alcoholic products, cigarettes and bidis to disclose the list of the ingredients on the label or packets of the products.

''It is the consumer's choice to purchase an alcoholic or tobacco product. If the information is provided, the consumer would verify and reason out the harmful effects of the products after reading the ingredients,'' said the petition filed by Gupta.

Excise Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar in an affidavit told the court that ''The date of effective implementation has been fixed as July 1, 2007 and no brand of liquor will be allowed to be imported or sold in the capital without having the label of the ingerdients in accordance with the Prevention of the Food Adulteration Act, 1954.'' UNI