National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) since its inception in August 1997 till July 31, 2011, based on detection of overcharging g cases, has issued demand notices in 812 cases involving an amount of Rs.2357.24 crore (overcharging along with interest) for selling the medicines at a price higher than the prices fixed under Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995 (DPCO 1995).
Out of total amount of Rs.2357.24 crore, an amount of Rs.211.25 crore has been realized till July 31. Out of remaining amount of Rs.2145.99 crore, cases pertaining to an amount of Rs.1936.14 crore are under litigation and are pending in various courts while Rs.33.71 crore is pending for recovery with collectors of various States. Cases for Rs.176.14 crore are being pursued with the concerned pharma companies.
This was stated by Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
A number of drug companies have been found to be selling medicines at a higher price to the consumers. In such cases, NPPA initiates action of overcharging against the companies as per the provisions of the DPCO’1995 and the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
In order to ensure compliance of the notified ceiling price, NPPA calls for the control samples of the subsequent batches and the price list of the companies in respect of the formulations where the companies were found to have overcharged. NPPA also on continuous basis verifies the price lists submitted by the companies and undertakes market surveillance by suo-moto procurement of samples of scheduled formulation packs to see that there is no violation of the prices fixed and revised by NPPA, the Minister added.