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The Supreme Court (SC) today agreed to hear next week a PIL seeking cancellation of licence granted to Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and for initiating probe against it for allegedly manufacturing and selling adulterated medicines.
“I have directed that the matter be listed (for hearing) next week,” a Bench headed by Justice Gyan Sudha Misra said when lawyer M L Sharma mentioned the case this morning seeking early hearing of the PIL against the pharma major.
The PIL, filed in the wake of the company being fined $500 million by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for making and selling “adulterated” drugs, has also sought sealing of all its manufacturing units here, including those in Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, the Bench, also comprising Justice Madan B Lokur, had asked petitioner’s lawyer to complete technical requirements in the registry before the matter can be considered for hearing.
The PIL has also sought a direction to prosecute the current and former directors the Indian pharma company.
In his petition, the advocate has contended that making and selling adulterated drugs is a heinous crime and “amounts to committing murder” and a person who knowingly does it is liable to be prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code.
The PIL has sought a bar on any further sale of drugs manufactured by the pharma company and also seizure of entire properties of its directors.
It has claimed that despite Ranbaxy pleading guilty to supplying adulterated drugs in the US and it being fined such a huge amount, the Centre has not taken any action to prohibit or ban the drugs made by the company.
It also sought action against Indian drug regulator, Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), for permitting Ranbaxy to sell drugs in India, especially in the wake of the results of the USFDA probe against the company.
The lawyer alleged that Ranbaxy has been supplying adulterated drugs in India as well as other countries which is punishable under the Drug and Cosmetics Act.
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