The Allahabad High Court has taken up a contempt plea related to the non-compliance of its September 2022 order. This order was in response to a PIL plea urging central government authorities to address grievances associated with certain Padma awardees participating in ‘misleading’ Gutka advertisements.
The original PIL plea was filed by petitioner-in-person Advocate Moti Lal Yadav. He sought a directive for the Central Consumer Protection Authority of India to take appropriate action against private respondents. This group included Pan Masala Companies and Bollywood luminaries such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Ajay Devgan. The action proposed was to impose penalties as outlined in Section 21 (2) of the Act, 2019.
In the contempt petition, Yadav claimed that even after approaching the Cabinet Secretary, Government of India, on October 15, 2022, the Central Consumer Protection Authority did not act on his representation.
Earlier in August, the High Court had issued a notice in the matter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Secretary of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), Nidhi Khare, seeking their responses.
During the recent proceedings, Senior Advocate and Deputy Solicitor General of India, SB Pandey, representing the Central Government, informed the Court,
“the representation of the Petitioner had been disposed of on September 15, 2023, and notices have also been issued to Pan Masala companies and hence, the Court’s September 2022 had been complied.”
Pandey further proposed that the Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba, should not be named as the opposite party/contemnor in the contempt petition.
While Yadav agreed to remove Gauba from the list of opposite parties, he stressed that the Allahabad High Court’s order had not been fully adhered to. He pointed out,
“the authorities concerned have not informed the Court as to what action has been taken against those persons, who have breached the guidelines so issued for awarding the decoration of ‘Padma Bhushan’ and ‘Padma Shri’.”
Yadav further contended,
“even if the notices have been issued to some Pan Masala Companies, it would not serve the purpose in terms of the concern of the writ court.”
In response to these arguments, the Court granted Yadav the right to file a reply/objection to the compliance affidavit presented by the Central Government. The case is now slated for further deliberation on November 29, where it will be featured among the top ten cases.
Case Title: Moti Lal Yadav vs. Rajiv Gowba, Cabinet Secy. Central Secretariat, Govt. Of India, New Delhi And Another [CONTEMPT APPLICATION (CIVIL) No. – 2833 of 2023].