Supreme Court Stays Chhattisgarh HC's Order On Pharmacy College Ban, Directs It To Decide Matter In 4 Weeks

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the order of Chhattisgarh High Court granting partial Interim Relief to Pharmacy colleges challenging the 5-year ban imposed by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI).The Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao & B.R. Gavai has also directed the High Court to hear and decide the pending Writ Petition finally within a period of 4 weeks.Essentially, the Chhattisgarh High Court, in December 2021, granted interim relief to a batch of colleges who had approached it challenging the 5-year moratorium/ ban imposed by the Government of India (GOI) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) on the opening of new Pharmacy Colleges in the country for the next 5 years.The Single Bench of Chhattisgarh High Court had passed interim orders in Writ Petitions challenging the 5 years ban imposed by the PCI and the GOI on the opening of new Pharmacy Institutions in the country.Challenging the decision of the HC, the Pharmacy Council of India had, within a week of the judgment of the Chhattisgarh High Court granting Interim Relief to Pharmacy Colleges, moved a Special Leave Plea before the Supreme Court.The SLP preferred by PCI, challenges the interim order of the Chhattisgarh High Court directing PCI to accept, process, and conclude the consideration exercise of the Applications of the opening of new Pharmacy Institutions (making the outcome subject to the final orders of the High Court).The PCI has also challenged the Interim Order of the High Court as virtually a final order diluting the moratorium order imposed by it. The PCI has also contended that the High Court had virtually allowed the WP in passing the Interim Order, which had challenged the Order of complete ban of the opening of new colleges.The background of this case The PCI, in the year 2020, post-approval from GOI imposed a blanket moratorium order on the opening of new Pharmacy Institutions across the country for the next 5 years, on the ground that the number of graduates of Pharma Courses was much in excess of the demand in the sector. The pharmacy colleges had challenged it on the ground that the PCI exceeded its delegated powers whilst imposing the ban and thus neither the GOI nor the PCI possesses the power as the delegatee of the Statute to put a moratorium like this; It was also argued that these orders imposing a blanket prohibition were never published in the Official Gazette to be enforceable and thus were non est and nullity being contrary to the mandate of the PCI Act.Lastly, it was contended that the orders being issued without proper consultation with the State Government, which is a necessary stakeholder under the PCI enactment, and that the State and the University had to the contrary granted NOC for the opening of all these new colleges in the State wherein there is an acute need of Pharmacist, especially in the post-pandemic era.The PCI was represented by Adv. Mr. Zoheb Hossain, whilst the colleges, which were on caveat represented through Sr. Adv. Nidhesh Gupta, Siddharth R Gupta, Pranjal Agrawal and Mrigank Prabhakar.Case title - PHARMACY COUNCIL OF INDIA v. CHOUKSEY COLLEGE OF PHARMACY & ORS.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Stays Chhattisgarh HC's Order On Pharmacy College Ban, Directs It To Decide Matter In 4 Weeks

Sparsh Upadhyay

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