The FDA has initiated legal proceedings against an actor who has failed to respond to their inquiries. This information was revealed in an exclusive interview with NDTV’s Shiv Aroor on Thursday.
In an interview with NDTV, Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe says two of the three actors have replied to the show-cause notices
“That’s where transparency needs to come in, and that’s why, on this, we have reported to the NPPA, which looks into this issue. So I am looking at them as violators of the law, and the law will take its own course. “We are giving them a hearing. My officer, the assistant commissioner who issued the notices, will be giving the hearing,”. Maybe it needs to consult all the stakeholders and whether it can be brought under the Drug Control Price Order, which is under the Essential Commodities Act.”
Because that is with the assistant commissioner, pressed on which actors had responded, Mundhe said, “I exactly don’t remember…. Because the notices were issued by the FDA in Mumbai, justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that the court lacked territorial jurisdiction. On September 14, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition by PB Agro LLP, the master licensee for Vimal Elaichi, which sought to quash the notices issued to the three actors. In other issues addressed in the NDTV interview, Mundhe said the FDA had asked the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to examine markups of 150-2,800 per cent on hospital consumables. He cited intravenous sets procured for Rs 11 but carrying an MRP of Rs 325, an issue he flagged in a letter to the central authority earlier this week.
“According to you they may be stars, but according to me they are only advertisers in this case. That’s why we have started taking action,” Mundhe said. “We have taken this action as per the law,” Mundhe said, adding that two of the three actors had responded to the notices and one had not, not sharing a breakdown by names. “In one case where they have not responded, we are starting the adjudicating and prosecution proceedings,” he said. The two who replied argued that the responsibility lay with the manufacturer, Mundhe said. Asked if Shah Rukh Khan’s team had responded, Mundhe said, “Most likely he has not responded, but I’m not too sure about it. The order said courts in Maharashtra were the more appropriate forum for the challenge. He said trade pricing regulation needs to address the issue.
