New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Centre and some e-pharmacies on a contempt plea alleging non-compliance of the courts stay order on sale of drugs and prescription medicines online. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani sought responses from the Ministry of Health, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Drugs Controller of Delhi and various private e-pharmacies on the contempt plea.

The contempt plea has been put up for May 9, when the main petition seeking a ban on illegal sale of drugs and medicines on the Internet is also listed.

Petitioner Zaheer Ahmed stated in the contempt petition that despite the stay order by the high court on sale of medicines online, the government has not taken any action. Counsel claimed that the e-pharmacies are deliberately disobeying the high court order and are selling medicines online.

The court had earlier stayed the sale of drugs and prescription medicines by e-pharmacies, while hearing a PIL by Ahmed, seeking a ban on "illegal" sale of drugs and medicines online.

He said in the main petition that online illegal sale of medicines would result in a drug epidemic, drug abuse and misuse of habit-forming and addictive drugs.

The Centres counsel had earlier informed the high court that rules are yet to be formulated to regulate such entities and the government was in the process of framing rules. The pharmacies had urged the court to remove the ban on online sale of drugs, stating that they had licences and no medicines were being sold illegally. However, the court had refused to annul the stay.

The petition claimed that the Ministry of Health, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and an expert committee appointed by the Drug Consultative Committee had already concluded that the online sale of medicines violated the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the other allied laws.

It further stated that lakhs of drugs are still being sold on the Internet every day. Some of the drugs or medicines contain narcotic and psychotropic substance and some can cause antibiotic-resistant bacteria, posing a threat to humanity at large.

It stated that e-commerce websites have been caught time and again for selling fake products. However, unlike consumer items, drugs are extremely potent substances and consumption of a wrong dose or fake medicine can have fatal consequences on the patient, it said.

The petition said that no mechanism currently controls the sale of medicines online, thus putting the health and lives of people at risk and affecting their right to a safe and healthy life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The plea said that online pharmacies are operating without a drug licence and cannot be regulated in the present regime. Unregulated and unlicensed sale of medicines would increase the risk of sale of fake and sub-standard drugs.

It sought direction to authorities to act against the entities distributing, selling or exhibiting drugs on the Internet. It also solicited direction for an expert committee to be constituted to find out the total number of websites distributing and selling the drugs in the country and to impose a ban on the online sale and purchase of medicines. (PTI)