HC seeks Centre's reply on pharma company's plea

The Delhi High Court today directed the Centre to respond to a plea of pharma company Reckitt Benckiser seeking quashing of its recent notification, which put a ceiling on price of condoms sold in the country.
A division bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan issued notice to the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) and sought reply by December 13 on Reckitt Benckiser (India) Pvt Ltd's plea, challenging the inclusion of the male contraceptive in the scope of Drug Price Control order (DPCO), 2013.
According to the petitioner, the government's November 5 notification would force manufacturers to sell their products below the actual cost.

"Since the ceiling price for all condoms is fixed at Rs 6.56, the petitioner would have no option but to discontinue sale of most of the variants... Or sell them at huge loss," the petition said.
The company claimed that condom was a medical device, and the DPCO intended to regulate price of medicine only, not for medical device.
It also contended that condom was the only medical device included under the price control policy, while other life saving medical devices such as stents and valves are not included in the first schedule of the DPCO, 2013.
The company said condoms do not fall under the category of essential commodity and the government cannot fix the ceiling price of medical device.

According to the plea, inclusion of condoms in the DPCO was violative of the Essential Commodities Act and also violative of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing policy.