Chief justice of Jharkhand High Court Dr. Ravi Ranjan; on Friday carried a reality check on the claim made by Jharkhand government that in Jharkhand there is complete ban on gutkha.

In the course of the hearing of a PIL filed by Fariyad Foundation related to sale of gutkha in Jharkhand; the Chief Justice produced gutkha of different brands.

The Chief Justice and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad were PIL through video conferencing. Secretary of Food and civil supplies, Chandra Kishore Oraon was also attending the hearing through video conferencing.

As the department informed the court that ban on gutkha is strictly implemented in Jharkhand; the Chief Justice sitting at his Kanke road residence sent his staff to purchase gutkha from the market.

The staff returned with gutkha of different brands that the government claims were banned in Jharkhand. The chief justice showed it to secretary of Food and civil supplies and asked whether he was talking about that kind of ban where prohibited products are available in open market.

The court said that no effort has been taken to enforce the ban. However, Oraon assured the court that immediate necessary actions will be taken to prevent sale of banned gutkha products. On this the court directed the department to submit an action-taken report in the matter and posted hearing in November.

Fariyad Foundation approached the court to seek implementation of ban on sale of gutkha across Jharkhand. The foundation claimed that the government is not serious to completely ban gutkha and often ban is temporarily withdrawn and sale is allowed.

In 2017 the government banned sale of gutkha across Jharkhand which will remain effective till 2021.

During the first phase of lockdown health department had notified over a dozen brands of gutkha and paan mashala under banned category. Recently Ranchi was declared as no tobacco free district.