Delhi HC dismisses plea against notices to actors promoting pan masala

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea filed by PB Agro, challenging show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and

Tiger Shroff

. The dispute relates to notices issued by the FDA to the actors in connection with the alleged surrogate promotion of a pan masala brand, which is marketed by the company.

Delhi High Court dismisses plea

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed the petition, while stating that the matter did not fall within the Delhi High Court's territorial jurisdiction. The court observed that

Maharashtra

would be the more appropriate forum for raising the grievances and objections.The court further held that the petitioner had 'failed to establish that any substantial or material part of the cause of action had arisen in Delhi'.

Why he plea was filed in Delhi

As per IANS, the pan masala company had argued that the Delhi High Court had jurisdiction to entertain the matter as their company was based in Delhi.

It further argued that its advertising campaign was allegedly conceptualised, prepared and managed from the capital and that the payments to the brand ambassadors were made from Delhi. However, the court rejected these arguments and noted that the show-cause notices had not been issued to PB Agro itself and that the company had also not been called upon to file a response, remove any advertisement, produce documents or appear before the Maharashtra FDA.

Delhi HC reserves verdict

On Monday, the Delhi High Court had reserved its verdict on the jurisdictional issue after hearing the plea filed by PB Agro. The company had sought directions to quash the show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra FDA. The petitioner argued that the notices were issued only to the actors and not to the company, despite PB Agro being the entity that could suffer irreparable harm from any action concerning the advertisement.It also contended that the Maharashtra FDA lacked jurisdiction to issue directions seeking to halt the advertisement.

CCPA on action by Maharashtra FDA

The Centre and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), however, opposed the maintainability of the petition before the Delhi High Court. They argued that the company should have approached the Bombay High Court since the impugned action had been taken by the Maharashtra FDA. The CCPA submitted that although it was examining the issue independently, it had no objection to the Maharashtra FDA issuing the notices.