Centre protecting tobacco industry: AVI

A day after the Union Health Ministry’s advisory urging states to ban e-cigarettes, AVI accused the Centre of protecting the tobacco industry, pointing to a rally in ITC’s share price following the news as evidence of who actually benefited. Samrat Chowdhery questioned the rationale of banning a 95%-less-harmful alternative while leaving conventional cigarettes on sale; legal advisor Farrukh Khan warned the ambiguous advisory could lead to a “witch-hunt” and said it would be challenged in the Supreme Court.