The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare led by Amar Singh MP, which is examining the issues involved in creating the Central Drug Authority (CDA) and the mandatory registration of the clinics, has asked the premier industry organization, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and some NGOs to present their views on CDA on May 7.

The Amar Singh panel, which has already heard the views of various stakeholders, was to elicit the crucial evidence from the former ICSR chairman Dr R A Mashelkar, whose committee had earlier recommended the formation of CDA. But, as Dr Mashelkar was preoccupied with some other engagements, the panel could not fix a date with him so far, official sources said.

Sources said that the Amar Singh panel is almost ready with its recommendation on formation of CDA and will be tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session of Parliament, expected to begin in the second week of July. In fact, the panel was to submit the recommendation to the Prime Minister in the just concluded budget session of Parliament, but it could not do as the officials were busy with the demands and grants procedures on the budget proposals.

Now, all efforts are on to table the recommendation in the monsoon session of Parliament. After hearing the views of FICCI and some NGOs, the panel will take the views of Dr Mashelkar and hectic efforts are on to get his feedback on the issue.

As the protest against the formation of CDA reached its crescendo, the central government formed a Parliamentary panel under Amar Singh to get the feedback of different stakeholders on the issue. To elicit the opinion of the stakeholders, the panel had sittings in different parts of the country during the last couple of months. The committee had sittings at Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Hyderabad in the south. It also visited Indore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Goa in the west. For hearing the stakeholders from north and north east states, the committee had sittings in Delhi.

During its sittings, the committee interacted with representatives of small and large drug manufacturers associations, experts, organisations, NGOs, -consumer forums and officials of the state drug departments.

The Bill proposes to make amendments in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, in order to facilitate the creation of CDA and introduce centralized licensing for manufacture of drugs in pursuance of the recommendations made by the Mashelkar Committee.