Ranbaxy whistleblower Dinesh Thakur may join PIL in Supreme Court

MUMBAI: Ranbaxy whistleblower Dinesh Thakur plans to join a PIL filed by advocate ML Sharma against the company, now part of Sun Pharmaceutical, which acquired it in 2014.

Sharma wants three manufacturing sites banned on the grounds that they allegedly supplied adulterated drugs from these facilities."I am seriously thinking of joining the proceedings currently before the SC after proceedings currently before the SC after I confer with my attorneys," Thakur said in an email to ET.

In February, Thakur had filed a PIL seeking reform of drug regulation in India, but was rebuffed by the SC. Since then, he has been active on social media platforms detailing discrepancies in the working of the country's drug regulator.

Thakur's latest move comes as the regulator prepares to give its side of the story on whether it found any wrongdoing at Ranbaxy's various manufacturing plants in India. He has asked what took the drug regulator two years to act when there are laws that give it ample scope to prosecute companies that defy manufacturing norms.

"The drug controller has complete authority under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to prosecute the company if it found that the records were fudged, instead of waiting for two years to take action," he said.