KULDEEP SINGH Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 11 February 2011, a Division Bench of this Court made a reference to the Full Bench of the following questions:

(2.) This reference requires an interpretation of the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and of Rule 49 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.

(3.) For direct recruitment of Drug Inspectors under the U.P. State Drug Control Gazetted Officers' Service Rules, 1995, the essential qualifications prescribed in the advertisement dated 10 October 2009 were a degree in Pharmacy or Pharmaceutical Sciences or Medicine with specialization in Clinical Pharmacology or Microbiology from a University established in India by law. On 9 July 2010, the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission issued a corrigendum on the directions of the State Government and stipulated that as part of the essential qualifications required for the post, at least eighteen months' experience of testing of at least one of the substances mentioned in Schedule C to the Rules or at least eighteen months' experience in the manufacture of one of the substances specified in Schedule C or three years' experience in the inspection of firms manufacturing any of the substances specified in Schedule C licensed for the manufacture of drugs. Following the publication of this corrigendum on 11 July 2010 in the newspapers, three writ petitions were filed to challenge it and to seek a mandamus that the applications submitted by the petitioners should not be rejected.