Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI), which obtained a stay order on the FDC issue from the Chennai High Court, will meet the DCGI in Delhi sometime next week to discuss the matter.

The CIPI will decide its stand on withdrawing the case or otherwise after holding discussions among leaders and the members of the association, before meeting the DCGI formally sometime next week according to CIPI chairman T S Jaishankar.

DCGI, Dr Surinder Singh has a sitting with the lawyer who is arguing the case in the court in Chennai for the Government on Saturday and held an `informal' meeting with CIPI chairman. The next hearing on the case is yet to be fixed and it is likely to be further delayed, sources said.

Amid reports that the CIPI was willing to reach an out-of-the-court arrangement and withdraw the case, Jaishankar said his meeting with the DCGI was completely `informal' and the FDC issues did not come up for talks at all. However, DCGI had agreed to meet the delegation of the CIPI next week, he added.

Despite repeated attempts, the DCGI was not available for comment and his office refused to give more details on the meetings with the lawyer or the CIPI leader. His office said the DCGI was busy with meetings and putting things in order in his own office.

The CIPI delegation was scheduled to meet the DCGI on the issue as early as on February 8 but the time was not given to the delegation. Jaishankar said he would first collect the opinions of other functionaries and the members on the stand to be taken at the meeting with the DCGI. He also added that as of now their stand remained the same and there was no change on it.

Interestingly, the industry has been asking for at least one year before the order to withdraw the FDCs was operated. Now almost eight months have gone after the order was sent to the State licensing authorities by the then-DCGI. It is now four months since the order was stayed by the Chennai High Court. And the case may still get further delayed as the court would go for vacation during the summer. Hence, the authorities are also willing to reconsider the issue and settle it with the industry, it is learnt.

As per the classification by the DCGI, 150 out of the 294 FDC drugs were in the category that `needs further examination. The industry has been urging the authorities to extend at least a year to liquidate their stocks before the whip is cracked. Some of the associations also were ready to see these drugs be assessed by an able technical committee and go by its recommendations.