Centre empowers LGs of five UTs to act under Drugs and Magic Remedies Act

Lieutenant Governors or administrators of five Union territories will now have the power to authorise officers to search any premises or seize any record related to misleading advertisements claiming magical properties and remedies for the treatment of certain diseases like cancer and diabetes.

In an order notified in the gazette recently by the Home Ministry, the government has delegated the powers to LGs or administrators of the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.

"...the President hereby directs that the administrator (whether known as LG or administrator) of Union territories of Lakshadweep, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir shall, subject to the control of the President and until further orders, exercise the power and discharge the functions of the state government under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 (21 of 1954) within their respective Union territories," the order said.

The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, and its Rules list provisions for the prohibition of misleading advertisements and exaggerated claims for drugs and medicinal substances, including Ayush medicines, appearing in print and electronic media.

It allows gazetted officers authorised by the "state governments" to enter, search any premises, examine, or seize any record related to the alleged misleading or improper advertisements, and initiate action against cases of default.

In the case of five UTs, the LG or the administrators will now have the power to authorise officers to carry out the actions.

The law prohibits advertisements of certain drugs for the treatment of 54 diseases and disorders, including diabetes, obesity, and cancer. These diseases fall under the prohibited schedule of the Act. The law forbids companies from promoting or marketing drugs as a cure for these conditions.

It states that no person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement referring to any drug in terms which suggest or are calculated to lead to the use of that drug for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease, disorder or condition specified in the law.