India will soon have special courts across the country for the trial of offences coming under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
The Union government has chalked out plans for the setting up of a string of special courts exclusively to handle drugs related cases to curb the offences like the manufacturing of spurious drugs and to uphold the standard of pharma industry in the state.
The courts would come up in cities and districts where a large number of drugs and pharmaceutical industries are located, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here announcing the plan.
"We should soon be taking up with the respective authorities for setting up of designated special courts for trial of offence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. To begin with, special courts could be set up in cities and districts where there is a concentration of drugs and pharmaceutical industries," he said.
The Secretary (Health) had written to all the Chief Secretaries of the states to bring a legislation in this regard in the Budget Session, he said.
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 which underwent an amendment now incorporates stringent penal provisions for offences like spurious drugs manufacturing.
A whistle-blower scheme has been announced for unearthing activities of the spurious drugs manufacturers. An informer would be rewarded upto Rs 25 lakh for providing concrete information, Azad said.
Observing that the Centre frequently receives notes of caution from the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the outbreak of diseases in the country, Azad asked the pharma companies to produce affordable drugs for common people.
"We receive note of caution from the WHO every now and then saying that India is going to be a hub for a particular disease. This we find almost every six months," the minister said.