Karnataka government has asked H Jayaram, additional drugs controller to take charge of department of drug control following the exit of R Anand Rajashekar following a raid conducted by Lok Ayukta, the investigation agency of the Government of Karnataka. As the senior officer in the drugs department, Jayaram will now oversee the activities here, which has come to a standstill following the exit of R Anand Rajashekar, drugs controller.

Deputation of Drugs Controller is the responsibility of the Central Government and the only thing that could take place is to ask the senior official in the drugs department to take charge, reliable sources in the government informed. They said that although Jayaram's hands are not clean, still he has been ordered to take charge because of his seniority. There are high chances that he will also be asked to quit as the inquiry has begun and Jayaram is expected to be interrogated on April 4, 2003 by the Lok Ayukta.

Meanwhile the Karnataka drug control department bears a deserted look. There will be no activities here until the interrogation is complete. None of the officials were willing to comment about the state of things.

Lok Ayukta will present an interim report about the scam in a week's time to the State government, informed Dr. H Sudarshan, vigilance director (Health).

The Drugs Control department has been the hot bed of bribes, irregularities in issuing licences and misappropriation of government funds for upgradation, said a highly placed official in the government.

The list of 259 drugs unearthed during the raid, which were 'Not of standard quality' and spurious has not yet been released by the Lok Ayukta as detailed investigations are on.

In the raid, it was also found that insulin imported by Knoll Pharmaceuticals was being sold without MRP (maximum retail price) mentioned on the vial and they were giving the margin less than 16 per cent. Knoll Pharmaceuticals, who are the sole distributors for India and Nepal for certain insulin preparations imported by Novo Nordisk Pharma India, had violated various provisions of Drug Price Control Order [DPCO] 1995, Para 19 [1] and para 14 [2], and although the Karnataka Drugs department granted permission to launch prosecution but the case lapsed, it is learnt. Kranti Kumar Bhaskar of the drugs department in charge of the Knoll files was unavailable for comment.

In fact, the criminal complaint against Knoll was filed in the Principal Civil Court and Sessions Judge in Bangalore by V Hari Krishnan, president, Bangalore district druggists and chemists association. Knoll Pharmaceuticals was asked to restore the correct retailers margin as stipulated in para 19 [1] of DPCO 1995 and the court had been taken cognisance of the offence.

There have been instances right through the year when the State Drugs Control department has filed cases. Between April 2002 and January 2003 around 40 cases were reported against the druggists and chemists in the State for offences like selling drugs without licenses, scheduled drugs sold without prescription, possessing huge quantities of physician samples, inability to produce purchase invoices and drugs stored in room temperature when it had to be stocked in refrigerators. The drug officials said that the detection of violations with evidence led to prosecution of the druggists and chemists.

But sources in the government informed that there were more scams to be unearthed than reported already.

A section of pharma manufacturers in the state said that they had no problems with the Drugs Control department and at no time bribes were offered and no problems whatsoever was faced for any approvals. But according to sources, the companies who wanted to enter the Karnataka market from outside the State faced an ordeal.