The Union cabinet has finally decided to introduce the bill awarding capital punishment to those indulging in manufacture or sale of spurious drugs in the parliament. It is a significant move on the part of the government to contain this growing menace in the country. By deciding to award the ultimate punishment to manufacturers or traders of spurious drugs, the government rated this activity as a criminal offence and no more an economic crime. Although the government does not have any authentic figures about the spurious drugs in the country, everyone knows that the problem has now grown to become a national issue. It not only affects the unsuspecting and poor patients but also sales and profitability of pharmaceutical companies. In that process, the Central and state governments also lose revenue as no taxes are paid for these fake products.
The proposed new legislation is an admission of the government failure in checking the growth of spurious drugs activity in the country with the existing laws and the enforcement machinery. In fact, the inability to check the growth of spurious drugs in the country is basically an enforcement failure. The problem does not exist in all the states in India in a uniform manner. For instance, southern states in general and Kerala in particular do not have spurious drugs in the magnitude the northern states have. Some of the senior drug regulatory officials from Kerala even challenge to prove the existence of spurious drugs with the trade in that state. Their claim may be slightly exaggerated but definitely surveillance of pharma trade in this state should be somewhat regular and prompt. In most of the northern states, willingness or funds are lacking in investigating, conducting raids and prosecuting the culprits. Therefore, what is primarily required in these states is motivation on the part of the drug officials to act and bring the criminals to the court. The new law will certainly prove to be a powerful tool for the enforcement officials because of the extreme nature of the punishment it provides for the guilty. Two serious problems confronted by the drug officials in the courts, including higher courts, is the inordinate delay in hearing cases and the ignorance of the drug laws by the judicial officials. Both these factors have to be addressed with due earnestness if the new law has to work. Otherwise these criminals will continue to flourish at the cost of the people, industry and the government. Establishment of special courts for handling spurious drug cases throughout the country is probably one way to make this law meaningful.