The government of India in a tough stance is pushing the Supreme Court to apply a Roman Law Doctrine “res extra commercium” meaning outside commerce to rip off the multi-billion dollar Indian Tobacco Industry of its legal right to trade.
In denying an industry’s legal standing to trade, it gives authorities more leeway to impose stricter restrictions which cannot be termed by the industry as unreasonable. SajanPoovayya, a senior lawyer representing top Indian cigarette maker ITC Ltd and Philip Morris International Inc’s Indian partner, Godfrey Phillips, said the industry’s legal rights would be severely limited if the court applies the doctrine to tobacco.
The doctrine would open the door to an outright ban on tobacco sales if a state so wished, said Pratibha Jain, a partner at law firm Nishith Desai Associates and a specialist in Indian constitutional law. “It gives the state autonomy to completely ban trade in tobacco,” Ms Jain said. “It gives governments the constitutional cover that will protect future litigation. The industry will lose significant ground as your protection of right to trade is gone.”
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