Uttar Pradesh Pharmacy Council (UPPC) has started a probe on fake pharmacy registration racket running in UP after three cases of fake registrations were detected recently. One person has been arrested by the police in this connection. As per officials, investigations are going on and the offenders will face action in violation of IPC and Pharmacy Act.  

With the growing trend of fake registrations, UPPC officials have taken a serious view of persons coming for registration as pharmacists and is planning to make the process of registrations more rigorous and seamless. Says Krishna Kumar, registrar, UPPC, "Cases of fake registrations has become rampant and we are planning to curb this malpractice in the interest of the registered pharmacists and patients."

Constituted under Section 32 (II) of the Pharmacy Act, UPPC was established in 1956 through a state government notification. It has 59,600 registrations as of today.

Registration is granted by the council to eligible students who pass diploma or degree from an institute approved by Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) under Section 12 of the Pharmacy Act.

As per provisions of the Pharmacy Act, applicants who are Registered Pharmacists of other states can also seek transfer to the respective council 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.

Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council in the recent past has observed such 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.