Supreme Court declines to hear PILs by Ranbaxy whistle-blower

Questions petitioner Dinesh Thakur's motive; says court doesn't have time for 'academic issues' raised by activists

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed as withdrawn separate public interest litigations (PILs) filed by former Ranbaxy executive Dinesh Thakur challenging certain rules under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and seeking “the creation of a framework for the recall of drugs and a commission to examine faulty drug approvals”.

The Union health ministry, the Drugs Consultative Committee and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) were among the respondents.

A Bench led by Chief Justice T S Thakur, which heard the petitions, questioned the locus standi of the petitioner. “An overseas citizen has come all the way to challenge a rule. What is your locus?” the judge asked, adding: “Bring a public person affected by the rule.”

When the lawyer tried to explain Dinesh Thakur’s credentials as a whistle blower, the judge said the court did not have time for taking up matters raised by activists for publicity.

“You are coming with academic issues when people are languishing in jails. Our hands are full,” the Bench dismissed the petitions as withdrawn by the party after the petitioner’s counsel requested that he be allowed to approach other forums including the high court.

On March 7, 2016, Reuters had carried an article about the upcoming Supreme Court hearing titled ‘Pharma crusader Dinesh Thakur takes India’s drug regulator to court’. The article was accompanied by a picture of Thakur with the caption, “Dinesh Thakur, a public health activist, poses for a picture at his residence in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi, January 19, 2016.”

In a tweet posted soon after the decision, Dinesh Thakur said, “Disappointed that the Supreme Court has declined to hear my PILs (public interest litigations).” He also posted links to his blog, which detailed the intent and scope of these petitions. “These PILs were the best chance to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. As we argued in the second PIL, the band-aid approach that we have taken for the last 60-odd years will only exacerbate the situation,” the blog post said.

The post, titled ‘A sincere attempt to improve the quality of medicine for people around the world’, said: “We need to rip the current system up from its roots and start with a clean slate. I still believe this is the right approach. Doing so will bring the regulatory framework on par with internationally accepted standards and hold the regulator truly accountable for public health to the people of India. This will also help the (pharma) industry in India grow again, provide good paying jobs to our young women and men.”

He had told Reuters last week that there was no financial motive for the suit and how he spent much of 2015 working with lawyers to file around 100 public information requests on how state and central drug authorities had responded to cases where rules had been broken, some of which first came to light five years ago.

The responses he obtained showed CDSCO and the health ministry had not adequately investigated and prosecuted those breaches, despite saying they would, Reuters had reported.

Three years ago, the former Ranbaxy executive had made $48 million as a whistle blower award from the US, when US regulators fined Ranbaxy $500 million for violating federal drug safety laws and making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.