When Dr. Farrukh Khan stood to represent the Petitioner, Sutirtha Dutta, in challenging the ban imposed on carrying of E-Cigarettes in flights and airports, he mentioned about the importance of e-cigarettes in order to quit smoking. This argument had brought forth certain essential issues pertaining to the importance of e-cigarettes or vaping devices.

On a subsequent date at the Delhi High Court in the same case namely Sutirtha Dutta v. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security[1], the Delhi High Court issued notice to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security(BCAS) directing them to file a reply within 4 weeks. It has also been brought to surface by the petitioner that the BCAS has imposed a ban without even taking into due consideration the provisions of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act of 2019. As per the provisions of the said statute, only the production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, and advertisement of e-cigarettes is supposed to be banned and in the present case the concern is clearly none of the above. The petitioner here claims that the e-cigarettes were carried by him for the purposes of personal use and ‘personal use’ per se  is not mentioned in the provisions of the Act.

Even section 5 of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act of 2019 prevents the storage of stock of e-cigarettes and nowhere in the Act does it specify any form of prevention of personal use of e-cigarettes. There is no law addressing the use of e-cigarettes in indoor public places, workplaces, and public transport; therefore, the use of e-cigarettes is allowed.[2]

On trying to understand the ban from the point of view of the Aircraft Act also, it is way beyond the provisions of the Act to understand the ban. Passengers travelling through aircraft are allowed to carry mobile phones and laptops which contain batteries. E-cigarettes lie on the same tangent as even they carry batteries. If phones and laptops do not pose any threat then quite possibly even e-cigarettes are not objects which pose threat to human safety. This was also stated by the petitioner and it somehow seems to be moving towards the line of victory for the petitioners and Dr. Farrukh Khan as the Court has asked the BCAS to file a reply within four weeks.