Panel wants drug cos to pay and appeal

NEW DELHI: The standing committee on petroleum and chemicals has urged the government to review and amend rules and regulations on Drug Price Equalisation Account (DPEA) to prevent indefinite delay in its recoveries due to prolonged litigation. “Rules and regulations relating to this account should be reviewed and, if need be, amended to see that government recoveries are not held up,� the Parliamentary Committee said in its 25th report here on Friday. The panel headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav said the rules should be so amended that the litigant should first deposit the amount in DPEA before appealing in court. It said the existing rules and regulations relating to DPEA were not sufficient to compel pharma manufacturers to deposit their amount in the account. The panel observed that the department of chemicals and petrochemicals had referred 72 cases involving an amount of Rs 220 crore to the drug price liabilities review committee for its recommendations. The committee has given recommendations for further action with regard to 50 cases. It noted that an amount of Rs 24 crore had been deposited in the DPEA and the recovery of balance had been held up due to litigation. The department of chemicals and petrochemicals, in order to expedite the recovery process, has moved Bombay High Court for getting a fresh interim stay vacated, the panel observed.