Relief to condom manufacturers

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Madras High Court order which banned the use of explicit pictures on Condom wrappers or advertisements. A two judge bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan also issued notice to Centre, Tamilnadu Government on a petition filed by Hindustan Latex Ltd., which challenged the High Court order. The Madurai bench of Madras High Court had directed the Advertising Standard Council of India to make sure that advertisements on the packets of condoms are not contrary to constitutional norms preserving India’s rich cultural heritage.

The High Court also directed the condom manufacturers to present their proposed design of condom packets to the Advertising standards council and only after the clearance from the council, they can go ahead with such design of condom packet. The petitioners alleged in their petition that the High Court gave undue regulatory powers to Advertising Standards Council which is merely a non profit company under The Companies Act.

The petitioner in the case, C. Ravikumar had filed a petition in the Madras High Court saying that during his visit to Thailand, he found that there was no explicit pictures on the condom packets there. The petitioner also accused manufactures of publicizing obscenity while advertising their products. He also said in his petition that he even gave a representation to Advertising Standards Council of India in this regard but nothing happened in that regard.