Mumbai, Jun 12 Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe on Friday directed officials to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the gangs involved in the manufacture or sale of gutka and other banned tobacco products.
The objective of invoking the stringent MCOCA was not to harass law-abiding traders, but to take strict, evidence-based legal action against those engaged in the organized illegal trade of prohibited substances, he said.
Such activities will be treated not merely as regulatory violations but as serious organised crimes affecting public health, he said.
Jaiskrishna Fad, Joint Commissioner, FDA said the state government has a constitutional responsibility to protect public health. Production, storage, transportation, distribution, and sale of banned substances such as gutka and nicotine-containing pan masala are already prohibited under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Despite the ban, enforcement agencies have found that illegal trade continues in an organised manner for financial gain, he said.
The trade involves the use of forged documents, shell companies, benami transactions, secret warehouses, interstate supply chains, and multiple distribution routes, Fad said.
FDA Minister Narhari Zirwal said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had informed the legislative assembly during the winter session that the MCOCA could be invoked against those involved in the gutka trade.
