New Delhi: Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said that he expected the Law ministry to resolve the row over anti-smoking rules issued by his ministry in a manner which would take care of public health and also the interests of filmmakers.
“That’s why we have referred to the Law Ministry. I am sure they will take care of the law, they will take care of health and they will also take care of the interest of the filmmaker,” Azad told reporters here. He was referring to a Health Ministry notification to implement anti-smoking rules which met with opposition from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Azad also said that the Law Ministry will also decide the modalities of the anti-smoking rules. “Warnings will be there. After how many…at what point of time whether in the beginning or later on or every few minutes, that has to be decided by the Ministry of Law, keeping in view (of) the existing rules and regulations,” Azad further said.
On September 27, the Health Ministry had through a notification come up with a set of anti-tobacco rules in the films meant to be implemented from November 14.
However on several points the Health and the Information ministries were not on the same page.
The Health ministry in the notification had sought a disclaimer, of minimum twenty seconds duration, by the concerned actor regarding the ill-effects of the use of tobacco products, in the beginning and middle of the film or television programme
The Information and Broadcasting ministry officials were worried about the practicality of the rule. (PTI)