India

The Tobacco Institute of India, a tobacco product retailer, a tobacco farmer, and a current smoker challenged the legality (as it relates to cigarettes) of an October 2014 Ministry of Health notification establishing pack warnings on 85% of both sides of tobacco product packaging.  The court noted that implementation of the pack warnings has been stayed in a matter concerning beedi packaging and that judicial discipline requires that a stay be granted here due to the similarity of the petitions.  Without ruling on the merits of the case, the court stayed the implementation of the pack warnings notification in a preliminary order.