Hyderabad: More than 14 years after a retired employee of the Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL) was booked in a criminal case for allegedly approving a sub-standard drug, the Telangana High Court has quashed all charges against him and even imposed a fine on the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for implicating him without enough evidence.Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti observed that his prosecution was a “sheer abuse of the process of law” and a violation of fundamental rights and ordered CDSCO to pay “exemplary costs (fine)” of 50,000 to the 75-year-old former zonal manager of HAL. It found that the official had retired months before the drug in question was even manufactured.The case dates back to 2010 when drug inspectors seized samples of Roxythromycin tablets (used to treat bacterial infections), manufactured by a private pharma company and supplied through CDCSO from the Central Hospital, South Central Railways, at Secunderabad and found that they were manufactured in March 2009 and weren’t of “standard quality”. Following a report from a govt laboratory, the drug authorities filed a criminal complaint in 2012, naming the petitioner as the primary accused responsible for the quality lapse.However, during legal proceedings, the court found that the petitioner had retired from service on Jan 31, 2009 — two months before the substandard batch was produced. The court noted that the authorities relied on old records to link him to the company’s operations, ignoring the fact that he was no longer an employee. Expressing its disapproval, the bench directed drug authorities to “independently apply their minds before naming individuals in criminal complaints, as such actions jeopardise careers and families”. The court also highlighted the “negligent attitude” of officers involved in the inspection, stating they acted in haste without any substantial material. While Justice Jukanti maintained that manufacturers of poor-quality drugs must be dealt with an “iron hand” in the interest of public health, dragging a retiree into a criminal trial, who was not related in any way, was wholly illegal.
