Constitution of special courts to try spurious drug cases throughout the country and establishing of a network of informers are two key proposals approved by the members of one of the sub groups of the high powered Mashelkar committee at its last meeting on April 29 in New Delhi, it is learnt.

The members of the Sub group were of the view that existing judicial system has not been effective in curbing the manufacture and distribution of spurious drugs as most of the spurious drug cases are first getting referred to the lower courts and judges are taking longer time to decide because of the accumulation of cases.

The proposed special courts, with special judicial powers, will be only taking up cases relating spurious drugs. The sub group members felt that in matters like curbing of spurious drugs, quick handling of cases is extremely important considering the damage the court delays can cause to the public.

The proposal to have a network of informers with attractive incentives was also considered to be an effective way to help the police to nab the spurious drug manufacturers. Some of the individual pharma companies had tried this method in the past to locate manufacturing locations of counterfeiters.

The sub group also felt that pharma companies should have an anti counterfeit policy to protect their brands.

The government initiative in tackling spurious drugs is being actively supported by the industry associations like IDMA, OPPI, IPA, PAMDAL and the trade body AIOCD with their formation of a steering committee early last month at a joint meeting in Mumbai. It was decided that the steering committee would work closely with the Mashelkar Committee in terms of sharing information and other matters.