New Delhi [India], May 20 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and other respondent authorities on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging illegal diversion and export of life-saving pharmaceutical drugs, including oncology medicines, that were allegedly meant strictly for domestic use in India.
A Division Bench of Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia heard the matter and asked the respondents to file their replies as well as place on record the action taken by them in relation to the allegations raised in the petition.
The PIL has been filed by Ripan Wadhwa and Ramesh Kumar Sharma through Advocate Dhruv Chawla. The petition seeks directions for a comprehensive, coordinated and time-bound investigation into the alleged illegal manufacture, diversion, circulation and export of pharmaceutical drugs labelled "for sale in India only".
The plea has arrayed the Union of India, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) as respondents.
The petition also seeks the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or entrustment of the probe to an independent agency to examine the entire chain of procurement, distribution, diversion and export of such drugs.
According to the petition, the matter concerns serious irregularities involving the unlawful diversion and export of high-value pharmaceutical drugs imported or labelled strictly "for sale in India only". The plea alleged that such drugs, intended to remain within the domestic supply chain under strict regulatory conditions, were being diverted into export channels.
The petitioners claimed that after conducting extensive research into the pharmaceutical supply chain, they formed a bona fide apprehension that certain entities engaged in export activities are procuring such drugs from the domestic market and allegedly intermingling them with otherwise permissible export consignments due to a lack of effective verification mechanisms.
The plea relied upon an Office Memorandum dated January 19, 2024, issued by the CDSCO, which allegedly recorded that pharmaceutical products marked "for sale in India only" were being exported by merchant exporters and directed that such practices be stopped immediately.
Describing it as an acknowledgement by the regulatory authorities themselves, the petition stated that despite such recognition and despite specific representations made by the petitioners, no effective or comprehensive investigation has allegedly been initiated to determine the scale and extent of the illegal activities.
The petition further contended that scrutiny of export records, shipping documents, customs declarations and related data would reveal instances where drugs intended for domestic use were exported, thereby exposing lapses in the regulatory framework.
It also sought directions to authorities to examine and rectify systemic gaps in the framework governing pharmaceutical exports, including a lack of coordination between drug regulatory authorities and customs authorities, and to implement monitoring, verification and enforcement mechanisms.