The 1999 Kerala High Court ruling the CJI recalled: public smoking held to violate Article 21

Background

At the Kerala High Court's platinum jubilee the Chief Justice of India recalled its ruling banning smoking in public places.
The judgment, K. Ramakrishnan v. State of Kerala, was delivered on 12 July 1999 and written by Justice K. Narayana Kurup.
The court held that smoking tobacco in public places is illegal and unconstitutional because passive smoke violates the right to life under Article 21.
It treated public smoking as a public nuisance under Section 268 of the Indian Penal Code and tobacco smoke as air pollution under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
It said it could not order the legislature to make a law, but could make the executive enforce existing ones.
District Collectors were told to issue prohibitory orders under Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and police were told to prosecute offenders.