New Delhi, A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a comprehensive national framework to curb the manufacture and sale of counterfeit and adulterated medicines, including vaccines and cough syrups.
The PIL, filed on Tuesday by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyaya, made union ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Law and Justice and Women and Child Development, all states and union territories and the Law Commission as parties.
Despite the Drug and Cosmetics Act being in force since 1940, sale and manufacturing of fake medicines, syrup, injection and vaccine continue to rise. The PIL raised concerns over alleged gaps in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, saying the absence of uniform investigation procedures, dedicated mechanisms for speedy trials and effective financial investigations has hampered action against organised counterfeit medicine networks. “There is no standard investigation procedure, time-bound trial and sentencing policy in cases of adulterated and spurious drinks and drugs. There is vacuum in the existing framework…,” the plea submitted.
