Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) has lodged eight FIRs at Mulund police station against persons for submitting fake or forged documents for registration as pharmacists in the state. MSPC has been taking a serious view of persons coming for registration as pharmacists for some time now. The accused persons will have to face trial in the Court of law.

MSPC has come across cases where either the concerned institute confirms that the said student is not a student of that institute and it is found that the documents are forged. Also in certain cases the concerned State Council confirms that the said applicant is actually not registered with them and the registration certificate is found to be fake.

As per provisions of section 32(2) of the Pharmacy Act- 1948, registration is granted to eligible students by MSPC office. Accordingly applications of students who pass diploma or degree from an institute approved by Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) under Section 12 of the Pharmacy Act are accepted.

An MSPC official explains, "Some of the applicants are also Registered Pharmacists of other states who seek transfer to Maharashtra after fulfilling the requisite rules under the Act. In such cases, letter is sent to the institute for confirming qualification of the concerned applicant. When it is confirmed that the applicant is a Registered Pharmacist of the respective state council, letter is sent to them for seeking No Objection Certificate (NOC) confirming details of the candidate like his name, registration number, qualification on which he is registered, date of birth etc."

MSPC has till date have done 1, 57, 406 registrations of which 1, 44, 439 are active. Records reveal that 409 registrations have expired, 2098 pharmacists have migrated to other states and 1285 have gone overseas. Approximately 1, 30, 000 renewals have been done with approximately 12, 000 new registrations coupled with 332 cancellations.