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News18
31-05-2025
- Business
- News18
Karnataka's New Rules For Tobacco Violations And Hookah Bars
Last Updated: Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments also have state amendments detailing the same. Karnataka has hiked the maximum fine for violating the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) to Rs 1,000 from Rs 200. A government order in this regard came on Friday. The President approved the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2024, on May 23. It was published in the official Karnataka Gazette Extraordinary on May 30, and has since come into force. In September 2023, the state government decided to tighten regulations by amending the law to completely ban hookah and shisha bars. They also planned to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products. The amended act now clarifies that using tobacco products in public places includes both smoking and spitting. A new section, 4A, prohibits the opening and running of a hookah bar, stating, 'in any place including the eating house or pub or bar or restaurant by whatever name it is called". Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments also have state amendments detailing the same. The amendment also inserts a new section 21A, which details the punishment for operating a hookah bar now carries a punishment of 1-3 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The minimum age to buy tobacco products in Karnataka has been increased from 18 to 21 years. This change aims to curb tobacco use among young people. Section 6 of the Principal Act now prohibits selling tobacco products to anyone under 21. Prohibition on the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to a person below the age of twenty-one years in a particular area. No person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit the sale of cigarettes or any other tobacco products to any person who is under the age of twenty-one years, in an area within a radius of one hundred meters of any educational institution; and loose or in single sticks. The fines detailed under Sections 21, 24 and 28 of the Act, for smoking in a public place and for the sale of tobacco to people aged 21 and below, have been increased to Rs 1,000. First Published: May 31, 2025, 08:45 IST
New Indian Express
28-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Karnataka issues ordinance to protect gig workers, mandates welfare fee from platforms
BENGALURU: The State Government on Tuesday promulgated an ordinance to protect the rights of platform-based gig workers. The Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Ordinance, 2025, approved by the Governor and published in the Karnataka Gazette Extraordinary on Tuesday aims to create a welfare fund for gig workers and places obligations on aggregator or platform in relation to social security, occupational health, and safety. A welfare board headed by the labour minister will be established and gig workers and aggregators or platforms in Karnataka will be registered. The ordinance proposes a 'platform-based gig workers welfare fee' from aggregators. The fee will be between 1 to 5% of the payout to the gig worker in each transaction, as may be notified by the State Government within six months of the ordinance coming into force. 'The State Government shall specify through a notification different percentage on the payout, with or without a cap on the gig worker welfare fee on each transaction, for different categories of aggregator or platform,' the ordinance read. The aggregator or platform shall deposit the welfare fee levied under this ordinance, at the end of each quarter. It proposes a Payment and Welfare Fee Verification System (PWFVS). All payments made to workers generated on the platform shall be mapped onto PWFVS administered by the State Government and monitored by the Board.
