Faced with the setbacks from the court on its resolve to weed out the irrational combination drugs from the markets, the DCGI may soon file a counter affidavit before the Madras High Court seeking to vacate the stays on its orders.
The DCGI office has reportedly got the expert advice from the Health Ministry legal wing and may soon authorize a senior official of the CDSCO in the South Zone to move the court, on his behalf, against the stay orders, it is learnt.
Thus the representative of DCGI, already identified in the South, would be filing the affidavit as Centre's arguments were not heard before passing the stay order given to the industry association. The DCGI may then move the Supreme Court, sources said.
Even as the DCGI filed caveat in the Shimla and Chandigarh High Courts, the Madras High Court other day stayed another attempt by the DCGI to force the State licensing authorities to implement his order, by invoking section 33(p) of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Though the caveat would give a chance to the DCGI to place its arguments before any decision on the stay order being passed by the concerned courts, technically, the DCGI has to file the affidavit in the Madras High Court to vacate the stay order.
On a petition filed by the Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI), the Madras HC stayed the invoking of Section 33(p) even as the DCGI stood firm on its move to weed out 294 combination drugs from the markets. The CIPI argued in the court that the DCGI was countering the industry through the new order.
The DCGI and the Industry have been at loggerheads for some time ever since the DCGI's decision to remove irrational combination drugs from the market in June this year. Apart from immediately stopping production of 294 combination drugs, which included more than 1000 brands, identified by the DCIGI, the DCGI had asked the industry to withdraw the products from the market immediately.