Madras HC stays Ban on Online Sale of Medicines pending final disposal of Appeals against Ban

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court today stayed the Single Judge order imposing a ban on the online sale of medicines until appeals preferred against the ban by affected companies are disposed of. The matter has been posted for final disposal on January 24..While staying the court-imposed ban, the Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam made it clear that they have not expressed any findings on the merits of the matter as yet. However, it opined that there may be inconvenience caused if the ban is imposed until the matter is finally decided..Therefore, it stayed the operation of paragraph 38 of the Single Judge order in the matter, which had imposed the ban on the online sale of medicines until the draft rules regulating such sale are notified and complied with..Last month, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana had directed the Central government to notify rules regulating the online sale of medicines, while allowing petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Drugs Association (TNCDA) to ban such sale. In para 38 of the judgment, the judge had ordered that online traders are bound not to proceed with their online business in drugs and cosmetics until the notification of the regulatory draft rules..Aggrieved by this order, e-pharmacies and intermediaries preferred an appeal before the Division Bench of the Madras High Court, after obtaining a temporary suspension of the ban on online sales. This suspension was later extended by the Division Bench until the delivery of its verdict on the appeals..Arguments on behalf of the TNCDA were made by senior counsel ARL Sunderesan and G Masilamani. Among others, senior counsel PR Raman, PS Raman, MS Krishnan and Satish Parasaran have argued for the appellant-companies..Inter alia, the appellant-companies have contended that the petitions preferred by the TNCDA are not maintainable, given that identical prayers were not allowed in similar petitions filed before the High Court three years earlier. Further, since there is no express legal prohibition on the online sale of medicines, the appellants argue that they should not be restrained from carrying on such sale..Per contra, it is the TNCDA’s case that the online sale of medicines was something that has not been contemplated in the prevailing Drugs and Cosmetics Acts or its Rules. It has been contended that such activity lies outside the operation of the prevailing law and, therefore, should not be permitted in the absence of any regulation.