New Delhi: The Supreme Court has admonished drug major Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd for not raising on the relevant occasion the issue of refunding Rs one crore penalty the government imposed on it for allegedly overcharging drug prices.
A Bench headed by Justice V S Sirpurkar, while hearing
the Centre's plea, flayed Ranbaxy for not raising the issue
when the matter was decided in May last year in the apex
court.
"Why did you keep quiet at the time when the final orders
were passed? You failed to raise the issue and now you want
refund ... You were sleeping then or you were in coma?"
Justice Sirpurkar observed.
However, the Court permitted the company to move an
application seeking the refund.
The Ranbaxy counsel sought refund of Rs one crore with
interest more than a year after the Supreme Court upheld the
firm's position in May 2008.
The Supreme Court in January this year dismissed the
review plea filed by the Centre challenging its decision of
May 12 last year wherein it had held that exemption from the
Drug Prices (Control) Order shall relate to drugs just
manufactured in the period of exemption and they need not be
sold also during the interval.
The Supreme Court Bench in its May 2008 verdict observed
that a manufacturer is not in a position to know when a drug
will be sold.
"(The firm's) control over the drug would end when it is
dispatched to the wholesaler ... The manufacturer cannot
supervise or oversee as to how others would be dealing with
its product ..." it said.
The Delhi High Court in May 2006 had asked the firm to
pay the penalty of Rs one crore and had directed that the
money would either be refunded or paid, with interest in each
case, depending on the verdict.
The High Court upheld Ranbaxy's position, holding that
the words used in the exemption notification are not
"manufactured and sold" but only "manufactured".
The government's position was that Ranbaxy, which
manufactured bulk drug Pentazocine four months prior to the
expiry of the exemption period, was required to apply for
price fixation and it was obliged to follow an existing
notified price for bulk drug or a ceiling price for
formulation on the expiry of the exemption.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, August 23, 2009, 18:17