Says, sudden prohibition will cause hardship to patients

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday stayed the operation of an order passed by a single judge on December 17 banning online sale of medicines till the Centre notifies the statutory rules to regulate the trade.

Passing interim orders on a batch of writ appeals preferred by e-pharma firms, Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam said that para 38 (relating to ban) of the single judge’s order shall remain stayed until the disposal of the appeals which were ordered to be listed for final hearing on January 24.

The judges did not read out, in the open court, the reasons for having granted the stay but for stating that the reasons cited by them would apply only to the limited extent of lifting the ban and not for final disposal of the appeals.

The ban was imposed following a writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association, which contended that it was illegal to sell medicines through online portals and mobile phone apps when the proposed amendments to Drugs and Cosmetics Rules of 1945 were still in the draft stage and yet to be notified in the gazette.

Concurring with the association, the single judge had held that online sale of medicines could not be permitted till the rules were brought into force and every other e-pharma firm gets registered with the central licensing authority and is made to adhere to the regulations to be put in force by amending the existing statutory rules.

However, at the request of a host of a league of senior counsel representing the e-pharma firms, the judge kept the implementation of her order in abeyance till they prefer an appeal.

Subsequently, while reserving its verdict on the stay petitions on December 20, the Division Bench extended the moratorium till it delivered its verdict. Assailing the single judge’s order before the Bench, the e-pharma firms contended that their trade could not be termed as an illegal activity when the Centre itself had proposed only to regulate the trade by subjecting it to statutory laws. Imposing a ban would lead to chaos among people dependent on online sale, they contended.

It was also submitted that no e-pharma firm sold medicines without insisting on submitting scanned copies of prescriptions and verifying them through qualified pharmacists engaged both by the home delivery partners as well as the pharmacies through which the drugs were procured and supplied to the consumers.