The Kerala High Court has withdrawn its own stay order issued in February this year seeking to quash the order of the state government removing K C Ajith Kumar from the post of president of the State Pharmacy Council. Soon after the order came out, the state drugs controller who was given additional charge earlier, assumed office.

Ajith Kumar was a nominated member to the council by the government. He had been removed from the post by cancelling his nomination as a member to the Council by the state government in early this year. Following this, he approached the HC pleading that there was no provision to remove an elected president of a Pharmacy Council and the Court had granted a stay and ordered him to continue as President after quashing the government order.

Ajith became the president of the Council in 2007 along with other four nominated members. When contacted he said the state health department was trying to capture the powers of the council from the day government came into power. He alleged that the issue came up because of the rivalry between the two leading left parties, CPI and CPM. The present CPM led government has ousted even the long experienced pharmacy council president MNV Adiyodi, who was the president for more than 20 years, just for his allegiance to CPI, to which Ajith Kumar also belongs to.

The government informed the court that it had the power to nominate a person to the council and also it is vested with the power to withdraw the nomination.

While welcoming the court order, President of the Private Pharmacist Association, K R Dineshan, who led many strikes and agitations before the council seeking removal of the President earlier, said the new administration should immediately take steps to conduct election for setting up a new council in a democratic way. He said the period for the elected council had expired two years ago.

There were allegations against the council and President Ajith Kumar from various pharmacist associations, mainly on the formation of a Pharmaceutical Society with the help of a group of working pharmacists and some officials of the state pharmacy council.

In 2008 the Council had conducted a state wide survey of the working pharmacists and launched a campaign for renewal of their registration in all the 14 districts in the state under the pretext of enforcing the section 42 of the Pharmacy Act. The Council had made renewal mandatory for all including for those who had registered for lifelong membership so as to confirm whether they were practicing in the state. This has led to the cancellation of membership of many lifelong membership holders who were unable to attend the campaign.