SC terms drugs policy unreasonable, asks govt to re-look
16 July 2015 6:57 AM IST
The Supreme Court on Wednesday termed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy and the Drug Price Control order 2013 as "unreasonable and irrational" and asked the government to reconsider aspects like the formula to fix prices, and then pass a "reasoned" order.
"The Centre's drug pricing policy seems to be unreasonable and irrational for fixing prices at the very high level," a three-judge bench headed by Justice T S Thakur said.
The bench, which also comprised Justices V Gopala Gowda and R Banumathi, asked the Department of Pharmaceuticals of Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to pass a "reasoned" order on the representation of NGO, All India Drug Action Network, on the issue within six months after hearing all parties concerned.
It also asked the Centre to file a copy of its decision on the representation of NGO which would file it in six weeks.
One of the five issues to be considered relates to NGO's plea that MBP (Market Based Pricing) was never used for any price regulatory purposes and under the new policy, simple average ceiling prices were, in many cases, higher than the market leader price. "You (Centre) are fixing the maximum price of a medicine above the retail price of the leading company of the same drug. It is absurd," the bench observed during the hearing. The NGO has also sought inclusion of more life-saving medicines of diseases like diabetes and tuberculosis in the list of drugs whose prices would be regulated by government.
To hear plea of RSPL in coal block allocation scam case
The SC on Wednesday agreed to hear the plea of Delhi-based Rathi Steel and Power Limited (RSPL) and its three officials against framing of charges by a special CBI court in a coal block allocation case. "An appropriate bench will hear it next week," a bench comprising Justices T S Thakur, V Gopala Gowda and R Banumathi said when lawyer D K Garg, appearing for the RSPL, mentioned the matter for urgent hearing. The special court has recently framed charges against RSPL and its three officials - Managing Director Pradeep Rathi, CEO Udit Rathi and AGM Kushal Aggarwal, for alleged offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy and fixed the matter for initiation of recording of evidence.
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