Stake in tobacco firms: High court issues notice to government
The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notices to the central government and set April 27 as the date for hearing the admissibility of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction against government-owned insurance companies to divest their stakes worth over Rs 1 lakh crore in tobacco companies.
The PIL has been filed by Sumitra Pednekar, wife of Maharashtra’s former home and labour minister, Satish Pednekar, who died of oral cancer in 2011, questioning the government’s contrarian policy on tobacco. She is supported by senior officials of the Tata Trust, led by managing trustee R Venkataramanan, and Tata Memorial Hospital as petitioners. Waseem Pangarkar from MZM legal represented the petitioners before chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice G S Kulkarni.
While, on the one hand, the government is committed to tackling the problem of tobacco and the ill-effects caused by it, insurance companies, in complete disregard to the government’s policy, continue to invest in ITC, the PIL said. “The acts of Respondents No 1 to 5 (LIC, New India Assurance, GIC, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance) are in violation of Article 21 and 47 of the Constitution of India and against the government’s National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP),” it said.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App now