New Delhi, July 22: Supreme Court on Friday has refused to hear the demand for a direction to the Central Government to formulate a plan to overcome the addiction of cigarettes and smoking. The court said that this petition has been filed only for publicity.
Petition filed by two advocates Shubham Awasthi and Saptarishi Mishra, asked to increase the minimum age limit for smoking from 18 years to 21 years and asked to eliminate smoking areas designated at commercial spaces and airports.
Petition also sought ban on sale of loose cigarettes around places of worship, educational institutions and hospitals and amount of fine for smoking in public places be increased. It said smoking causes great harm to health, therefore, there is a need to conduct scientific studies to get rid of its addiction.
Petition cited a news report in which smoking in India is told to have increased in the last two decades. The report ranked India as second in the world among smokers between the ages of 16 and 64, young people are falling prey to it.
