The Supreme Court today refused to relax its order banning sale of tobacco products like gutka and pan masala in plastic sachets beyond March 1. The apex court took note of government's submission that 90 per cent of oral cancer cases in the country are on account of chewing tobacco. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly declined to relax the deadline imposed by it on December 7, while taking on record an expert panel's findings, submitted to it by the Centre on the harmful impact of various tobacco products on human health. The apex court also sought the government's response on various interim and interlocutory applications challenging the government's February 4 notification, implementing the central law, the Plastic Management and Disposal Rules 2009, to regulate the use of plastic for packaging gutka and other tobacco products. The government had notified the law on February 4 after the bench had rebuked it on February 2 for not implementing the law and asked it to notify the same within two days.