Mumbai, 22 Feb, 2013:The
Bombay high court on Thursday told the state Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) department to be more considerate towards
grievances of chemists who have been shutting shops after 6pm for lack
of availability of pharmacists.
A division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Anoop
Mohta have told the state to file a reply as to what steps it proposes
to tackle the issue. This was told during the hearing of a public
interest litigation filed by a practicing lawyer, Datta Mane, contending
that the general public had been put to inconvenience in the wake of
the decision of chemists across the state to down shutters of their
shops after 6pm.
The FDA has been carrying out raids on chemist shops and taking
action against those shop owners where a pharmacist is not present at
the shop while dispensing medicines over the counter. So far, licences
of 40 shop have been suspended and those of 50 others cancelled. The
state said the presence of a pharmacist is a statutory requirement under
the Drugs and Cosmetic Act and if the same is not followed, it would
invite penal action.
It was also informed that while granting licences to a chemist,
an undertaking is being taken to keep the shop open for 12 hours. This
was negated by the chemists’ association, stating that if a pharmacist
works for eight hours only, it would not be possible for them to keep
the shop open for a longer time.
The state has now been told to produce the undertaking at the next date of hearing which will be held after two weeks.
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