Cigarette maker ITC gained a partial victory when a high court said the government may not seize inventory manufactured before larger health warnings came into effect on 1 April, the Times of India said.

Authorities in at least three states, Maharashtra, Goa and Rjasthan, have seized cigarettes that are not packaged with 85 per cent pictorial health warnings on main surfaces, the Times said. For cigarettes, this means the front and back of the pack.
However the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court ruled the new health warnings apply only to inventory manufactured after 1 April. The court did not direct authorities to return the seized inventory, the newspaper reported. Manufacturers have halted production from 1 April in protest.
Tobacco companies filed challenges to the health warnings in nearly two-dozen courts, according to the Times. On 3 May, the Supreme Court will hear a group of petitions, including at least one from a bidi association, the Times said.