We can't go on smelling foul in everything: SC

Observing that it could not go on "smelling foul" in everything, the Supreme Court Monday asked a petitioner as to what proof he had that pharma major Ranbaxy was marketing in India the alleged adulterated drugs that it sold in the US.

"What is the material to straight away allege that drugs being marketed (in India) were part of the same consignments which were sent to the US," the apex court bench of Justice Gyan Sudha Misra and Justice Madan B. Lokur asked public interest litigation filer advocate Manohar Lal Sharma.

Sharma in his petition sought the closure of operations of Ranbaxy in India.

The court, which gave Sharma two days to place before it the US court order accepting the Ranbaxy's $500 million out-of-court settlement with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for falsifying data and selling substandard drugs, said it could not go on "smelling foul" in everything.

The court asked Sharma to give definite material that the same sub-standard drugs were being sold by the company in India.

Sharma has moved the apex court seeking directions to the central government to cancel drugs manufacturing licences of Ranbaxy and its other group companies allegedly for marketing sub-standard medicines and thereby putting in danger the lives of patients in India and abroad.

He has also sought direction to order closure of Ranbaxy manufacturing units located in Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and other places under Section 18 the Drug and Cosmetic Act, 1947.