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Amendments to drugs and cosmetics Bill approved

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Bill, 2005, which envisage harsh punishment to persons involved in manufacture and trade of spurious drugs.

The Bill, pending in the Rajya Sabha, proposes to increase the quantum of punishment to a person involved in manufacture and sale of spurious drugs.

“This will help contain the problem of manufacture and trade of spurious drugs,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists after the Cabinet meeting.

The Bill proposes imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years, which may be extended to life term, and a fine of not less than Rs. 10 lakh or three times the value of the drugs confiscated whichever is more, for the guilty.

The Centre had constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of the then Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), R.A. Mashelkar, in 2003 to undertake a comprehensive examination of the problem.

The committee recommended enhancement of penalties, setting up of special courts for speedy trials and making the offences relating to spurious drugs non-bailable.

Based on these recommendations, a Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2003, but it lapsed due to the dissolution of the House. It was again introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2005.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for creating Project Cells to expedite work in respect of 6 All-India Institute of Medical Sciences-like institutions under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) Scheme. The cells would include creation of posts of Director and Medical Superintendent for these institutions.

The institutions have been planned at Patna, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Raipur and Bhopal.

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