Notwithstanding the Supreme Court's directive in July last year to decide the case in two months' time, the Madras High Court is yet to hold the final hearing in the controversial DCGI case which has long been pending in the court against the appointment of DCGI as per the new Recruitment Rule (RR), framed by the union health ministry in June 2011.
According to sources, the final hearing in the case is yet to be held with no date fixed for the case. In fact, the case was supposed to come up for final hearing in the Madras High Court on February 5, as it was listed for that day. But the case did not come up so far due to various reasons including the transfer of judges dealing the case.
Earlier in July last year, the Supreme Court, while disposing of the contempt of court petition filed against the appointment of Dr GN Singh as DCGI, had directed the Madras High Court to decide the DCGI case pending there preferably in two months' time.
The case challenging the appointment of DCGI as per the new Recruitment Rule framed by the union health ministry was filed in the Madras High Court in December, 2011 by Dilip Kumar, secretary of the Tamil Nadu branch Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association (IPGA).
The bone of contention between the government and the petitioner is the heath ministry's new recruitment rule. The IPGA secretary had challenged the health ministry's RR on the plea that the ministry has tailor-made the new rules to fit its nominee in the post of DCGI. As per the Drugs and Cosmetics (D&C) Act, the required qualification for the post of DCGI is a degree in pharmacy, pharmaceutical chemistry or degree in medicine with specialization in clinical pharmacology or microbiology from a University established in India by law.
But the petitioner argues that the qualifications framed in the new RR is not in consonance with Rule 49(A) and 50(A) of the D&C Act. The qualification clause in the D&C Rules does not demand a post graduate in Chemistry for DCGI post. But, the RR seeks applications from those who are possessing post graduate degree in chemistry, biochemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry in addition to the prescribed qualifications in the Act. The experience prescribed in advertisement is also in violation of the experience norms stipulated in the drugs and cosmetics rules.