Even though a controversy of dual control over pharmacy education is continuing in between the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), the efforts of the PCI to liberate the pharmacy courses from the regulatory powers of AICTE are unlikely to succeed in courts of law, according to experts in pharmacy education.
Speaking in legal point of view, experts have commented that although PCI is continuously raising their demand for complete control over regulation of pharmacy education in the country, their claim cannot be recognized because it has no legal validity as per the law of the country, otherwise new laws have to be enacted.
It is learnt that as long as the pharmacy courses continue to be technical courses as per AICTE Act, pharmacy council cannot make any claim of regulation over pharmacy education. This aspect of the Act was covered by three High Courts in the country in their orders, and all the courts observed that pharmacy course was purely a technical one. The Section 2(g) of the AICTE Act 1987 clearly defines the technical education and the course of pharmacy is also included in it.
If PCI should get absolute control over pharmacy education, Section 2 of the AICTE Act has to be amended in the Parliament. But it is difficult in the present situation of today because all over the world pharmacy education is considered as a technical course, whereas pharmacy practice is a health related component of pharmacy, an expert pharmacy academician observed.
In 1995 the Punjab-Haryana High Court, in 2002 the Madras High Court and in 2016 the Gujarat High Court ordered that Pharmacy education was under the control of AICTE. The PCI is empowered to regulate only the practice of profession of pharmacy.
According to the observation of the courts, absolute power or responsibility to regulate pharmacy education in the country is vested with AICTE only. The PCI has no role over it, but it can control the pharmacy practice profession, no role in education.
In the year 1987, the AICTE Act was passed by the Indian Parliament as Act 52 of 1987. From that year onwards, AICTE became a statutory body.
“Since pharmacy education is connected with drugs production in industry, it is a technical one and the role of pharmacists in the industry is that of technical profession. For controlling education in pharmacy, the AICTE itself has constituted a separate Board, the All India Board of Pharmaceutical Education, as per provisions of Sections 13(2), 13(4) and 23 of AICTE Act. A member of the executive committee of the PCI represents the council in the AICTE also”, said Dr. K G Revikumar, an academic expert from Thiruvananthapuram.
The 2002 order of the Madras High Court says, ”provisions of Sections 10 to 15 of the Pharmacy Act shall be deemed to be inoperative in so far they relate to admission of students, syllabi, course of study and examination, and for that matter the approval of pharmacy course. Consequently, the provisions of AICTE Act alone shall regulate and control the colleges in matter of laying down norms and standards for courses in pharmacy”.
It is alleged that the dual control compels the pharmacy colleges to seek approvals from both AICTE and PCI by paying huge inspection and affiliation fees, and bear the burden of repeated inspections. Inspections are conducted at different times by the two agencies for the same purpose. The expenses of inspections will at last fall on the heads of students as additional fees.