The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition by P.B. Agro LLP, the master licensee of the pan masala brand Vimal Elaichi, challenging show-cause notices issued by Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over their endorsement of the product.
The FDA's Mumbai office had issued the notices on August 11, alleging that the advertisements misrepresented Vimal Elaichi, which is marketed as a pan masala without tobacco. P.B. Agro sought to have the notices quashed by the Delhi High Court, arguing that the company operates from Delhi, manages its advertising campaigns from the capital, routes payments to its brand ambassadors from there, and that regulators such as the FSSAI and the CCPA are also headquartered in Delhi.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in an order dated September 14 (2026 LiveLaw (Del) 840), rejected the jurisdictional argument, holding that the regulatory action originated squarely within the Maharashtra FDA's statutory authority.
"The mere fact that the petitioner is incorporated, carries on business or maintains an office in Delhi cannot mean that every regulatory action taken against its product by an authority in another State becomes amenable to the jurisdiction of this Court."
The court also invoked the doctrine of forum conveniens, holding that Maharashtra's courts were the appropriate venue since the notices were issued by, and would have to be answered to, the Mumbai FDA. The case adds to a string of recent regulatory actions against celebrity endorsers of pan masala and tobacco-adjacent products, an area where state FDAs have stepped up scrutiny of claims that such products are tobacco-free. The show-cause notices against the three actors remain pending before the Maharashtra FDA, unaffected by the Delhi court's refusal to entertain the challenge.