New Delhi, Sep 7 — The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its verdict on the issue of jurisdiction in a plea filed by the company associated with Vimal Elaichi, challenging show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Tiger Shroff over an alleged surrogate advertisement for Vimal pan masala.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma reserved the order on whether the Delhi High Court can entertain the petition filed by the petitioner company, which has sought directions to quash the show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra FDA.

During the hearing, the petitioner company argued that the Maharashtra FDA's notices were issued only to the actors and not to the company itself, despite the company being the entity which would suffer irreparable harm from any action against the advertisement.

The company further contended that the Maharashtra FDA did not have jurisdiction to issue directions seeking to halt the advertisement.

Opposing the maintainability of the plea before the Delhi High Court, the Centre and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) argued that the petition should have been filed before the Bombay High Court, as the impugned action was taken by the Maharashtra FDA.

The CCPA said that while it was examining the issue independently, it had no objection to the Maharashtra FDA issuing the notices.

The Delhi High Court was also informed that the CCPA was conducting its own proceedings into similar allegations concerning the advertisement but had not issued any direction against the campaign.

The matter stems from show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra FDA to the three actors over their appearance in an advertisement for Vimal Elaichi. The regulator had alleged that the campaign amounted to surrogate advertising for Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in Maharashtra, and sought explanations from the actors regarding their involvement in the advertisement.

The FDA had invoked Section 24 of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006, which prohibits misleading or deceptive advertisements relating to food products. It had also referred to Section 53, which provides for a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for misleading food advertisements.

The notices were issued as part of the Maharashtra FDA's wider enforcement drive against gutka and pan masala products containing tobacco.

The regulator had alleged that the advertisement creates an indirect association with the Vimal Pan Masala brand by promoting another product under the Vimal name.

The FDA's notice had stated that, prima facie, the advertisement appeared to promote the Vimal brand, which was mainly associated with pan masala, a product prohibited in Maharashtra for manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale for a period of one year under a prohibition order issued on July 13 this year.

The FDA had served the notice on Devgn at his residence in Juhu and on Shah Rukh Khan at Mannat in Bandra. Shroff was served the notice through his production company, Tiger Shroff Productions LLP.

Recently, the Maharashtra FDA had confirmed that it received responses from Shroff and Devgn, while Shah Rukh Khan's response was awaited.

The regulator had said it was examining the replies and would determine whether the claims made in the advertisement and the promotion of the product were in conformity with the applicable regulations before deciding on further action. The FDA had also said that a probe was underway into the allegation that the advertisement promoted the sale of a different product by using the name or form of another product through surrogate marketing.

The Maharashtra FDA, under Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, has in recent months intensified enforcement against violations of food safety norms across the state, including action relating to adulteration and the manufacture and distribution of prohibited gutka and tobacco-containing pan masala.

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