Eight states are already imposing penalty on those caught smoking in public, even before the official ban on tobacco consumption in government or private buildings comes into effect from October 2.
The states include Delhi, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and the UT Chandigarh. The rest of the states, health ministry officials said, would start penalising smokers with a maximum fine of Rs 200 from Thursday.
Delhi, in fact, started penalty against smoking in public in 1997 and has eight raid teams in place. The state, on an average, collects Rs 7 lakh annually by way of penalty. In 2007-08, the teams fined 5,739 men and 18 women for smoking in public after raiding 22,988 premises and 32,239 vehicles.
Speaking to TOI, a health ministry official said: ‘‘All health secretaries have been given the prototype of the challan. It is now the duty of the health secretary to print these centralized challans and distribute it to their gazetted officers. States which don’t have the challan books ready can ask its traffic police to use the challan used for traffic violation.’’
Health minister A Ramadoss said the law would discourage smokers and help them quit. ‘‘I’m confident that in due course of time, all states will implement the law in toto.’’ According to Ramadoss, the health department in every state has to print the numbered receipt books and challan books immediately for distribution to authorized officers for ensuring proper accounting of fines imposed on the offenders.
The Centre has also given the states options on what to do with the fines collected — create a new account and pump the money back into the state’s tobacco control programme or retain some amount and deposit the rest into the treasury. ‘‘This is a social movement. First, there has to be increased awareness about the new law that bans smoking in public. This will improve voluntary compliance. The law also empowers the non-smoker. Challaning and penalizing people with a fine will be the last resort,’’ an official said. According to the latest law — Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules 2008 — tobacco consumption is banned in all government or private buildings and public places like small cafes, restaurants, schools, pubs or discos, stadiums, airports, hospitals and bus stands.
STUBBING IT OUT
India is home to nearly 12 crore smokers At present, 9 lakh people die every year due to tobacco related diseases Smoking will kill 10 lakh people annually from 2010
It will be the primary cause behind one in five of all male deaths and one in 20 of all female deaths
For every cigarette, 8 beedis are sold in India
Nearly 85% of the world’s beedi tobacco is grown in India
With Thanks from the Times of India
Source :- The Times of India 1 October 2008 P 11 Delhi
For any query:- legalpoint@aol.in
With Thanks from the Times of India
Source :- The Times of India 1 October 2008 P 11 Delhi
For any query:- legalpoint@aol.in
2 comments:
Where do I get the bare Act? There is some confusion over what is a PUBLIC PLACE. Is a public road a public place? Is the stairwell a public place?
Why does the article cited refer to raids on vehicles? Does that mean I cannot smoke in my car?
why does the article say police can use a traffic violation challan to fine offending smokers? Is this not bad in law? I mean, my driver's licence etc are not related in any way to the fact that I am a smoker!
Smoking or what we say smoke which leads to many health-related problems and give rise to many social stigma. To begin with, smoking or smoke gives you a strong nicotine addiction, which is harmful to your body. Few health related issue which smoker faces are breathing, losing sense of taste, tiredness etc, and such kind of physical problem. http://www.chantixhome.com/
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