The harried drug maker Ranbaxy got some much needed reprieve from the apex court, which dismissed a petition seeking a probe against the company for allegedly manufacturing and selling substandard medicines due to lack of evidence against the company. A vacation bench of the Supreme Court headed by justices AK Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi, however, allowed the petitioner to file a fresh petition if he finds some evidence against the company in support of his allegation that the company is engaged in manufacturing and selling substandard drugs.
The bench said that it cannot decide the plea against the company on the basis of a judgement passed by a US court against Ranbaxy. "Your entire argument is based on proceedings in the US. We have no jurisdiction over it. Show us material that things are happening in our country and it adversely affects right to life of people here," the bench observed adding, "Where is the material against Ranbaxy". "No material has been placed to show that drugs manufactured by any unit of Ranbaxy are substandard, adulterated, spurious and that such drugs are prohibited under the law. In absence of such material, we cannot entertain the plea," the bench said.
The petition alleges that Ranbaxy was fined $500 million by the US food and drug administration for making and selling "adulterated" drugs. It also sought sealing of all its manufacturing units here, including those in Paonta Sahib in Himachal and Dewas in MP. The petitioner also alleged that despite Ranbaxy pleading guilty to supplying adulterated drugs in the US and it being fined such a huge amount, our government has not taken any action to prohibit or ban the drugs made by the company. He also sought action against the drug regulator the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation for permitting Ranbaxy to sell drugs in the country, especially in the wake of the results of the US probe against it.
