Voicing its concern, a division bench led by Justice T S Thakur observed: “Youngsters want to see smoke come out of their cigarettes. Give them that, but can’t you avoid tobacco?”

The statutory warnings issued on most cigarette packets are hardly noticeable, Justice Thakur said. “Government should not leave it in the hands of cigarette manufacturers to increase the font of the warning. Make a specific rule to this purpose,” the bench said.

There exists a law — Section 7 (5) of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 — that says cigarette manufacturers must list the exact percentage of tobacco and tar used in the ingredients. But it has not been implemented till date, the court was told.

The Act also envisages punishment up to two years, or fine of Rs 1,000 for a first-time offender; for a subsequent offence, it stipulates imprisonment up to five years or Rs 5,000 as fine.

The court was also unhappy about the government being unable to yet confirm whether there is an enforcement mechanism attached to this Act. “What if a manufacturer makes a false claim on the percentage of ingredients on the packet... Is the offence cognisable by the police or not?” the court queried, giving the government time till March 3, the next date of hearing, in this regard.

“Only the number of cigarettes is shown on the packet. This is the case with Indian manufacturers, but even most imported cigarettes have the ingredients on the packets,” Puneet Gupta, who had filed the PIL seeking a direction from the court to ensure that list of ingredients are published on cigarette labels.

A Delhi High Court Bench on February 24, 2007, had made it compulsory for liquor bottles sold in the Capital to print the ingredients on the labels.