Making pictorial warnings on cigarette packets and other tobacco products obligatory from May 31, 2009, the Supreme Court has paved way for the display of pictures of diseased lungs for cigarettes and a scorpion for other tobacco products – instead of the regular skull-and-bones pictures – to be accompanied by the admonition “Smoking Kills or Tobacco Kills.”

Evaluating the contention that the law was weakened to help the tobacco industry, the SC Bench - comprising Justice BN Agrawal and Justice GS Singhvi - examined the minutes of the meeting of the Group of Ministers, placed by the Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam; and pronounced that there was nothing on record to corroborate the allegations.

Earlier, the SC had questioned the government on the delay in the implementation of the law, following a petition by the Health for Millions group – which had alleged the government, owing to the pressure from the so-called tobacco lobby, had failed to implement the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Rules that it initiated in 2006.

However, with the SC ruling coming through on Wednesday, the pictorial warnings will be displayed in accordance with Section 7 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. As mandated, the warnings will be placed parallel to the top rim of the package, in the direction of the information on the primary display area.