ATUL KUMAR GUPTA Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision is directed against the order dtd. 8/7/2024 passed by learned Special Judge (II) Nahan (learned Trial Court), vide which the charges were ordered to be framed against the petitioner (accused before the learned Trial Court). (The parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes. manner as they are arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present petition are that the Drugs Inspector filed a complaint against the petitioner and other accused asserting that he had received secret information that spurious and illegal drugs were being manufactured by M/s Soliance Pharma Products, Village Surajpur, Tehsil Paonta Sahib, H.P. The drugs officials of Haryana had seized a huge quantity of drugs from the Godown of M/s Lincoln Pharmaceutical Limited. An F.I.R. was lodged to this effect with SHO P.S. Saha (Haryana). The police sealed the premises of M/s Himalayan Laboratories, Village Surajpur, Tehsil Paonta Sahib on 13/7/2021 and recorded an entry No. 56(A), dtd. 13/7/2011 in the daily diary. The Drugs Inspector sent a letter to the SDM, Paonta Sahib, to depute an Executive Magistrate. The Drug Inspector opened the sealed premises in the presence of the Executive Magistrate and searched it. A huge quantity of spurious, misbranded, loose drugs without labels and other mandatory information was recovered. Names of M/s N.L.P. Organics Pvt. Limited, M/s Soliance Pharma Products, and M. Sea Pharmaceuticals being the manufacturers were mentioned on some of the drugs. The premises were violating the provisions of Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules framed thereunder. The drugs, machinery and other materials were seized by the Drugs Inspector in 49 boxes and 7 poly bags. These were sealed. Panchnama was prepared. Atul Kumar Gupta, the present petitioner, visited the spot, and he was asked to produce the documents and explain the manufacturing of spurious and misbranded drugs. He failed to submit any reply and stated that he had sublet the premises to one Saurav Behl; however, he could not produce any proof of this fact. He was asked to sign the documents, but he refused to do so. M/s Himalayan Laboratories was not authorised to manufacture the drugs belonging to or bearing the name and address of the firm M/s NLP Organics Pvt. Ltd, M Sea Pharmaceuticals and M/S Soliance Pharma Products. 5 (Five) samples were drawn. A request was made to SHO P.S. Paonta Sahib to register the F.I.R. The Police registered the F.I.R. No. 220 of 2011 at Police Station Paonta. The police conducted the investigation. The custody orders were obtained from the Court. The drugs were sent to Government Analyst Kandghat for analysis. A report was issued. Four Samples were stated to be not of standard quality, and the samples were declared misbranded. The Drugs Control Officer Ambala-I, Gurcharan Singh and the Drugs Control Officer Ambala-II, Sunil Dhaiya, attended the office of the Drugs Inspector, Nahan. A letter was written to them with a request to provide the documents of their case. They submitted documents vide letter dtd. 21/7/2011, which showed that the drugs were manufactured by M/s Soliance Pharma Products, and were seized by the Drugs Controller, Ambala, from the premises of M/s Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Limited. M/s Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Limited wrote a letter to S.P. Solan, H.P., on 24/10/2011 that they had made complaints against M/s Soliance Pharma Products, regarding the supply of spurious and illegal drugs after forging the copies of licenses. The accused intentionally manufactured the illegal drugs and sold them to M/s Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Limited with forged documents. The reports were sent to M/s N.L.P. Organic as per Sec. 24; however, the registered letter was received with the remark that the addressee had left Bhiwadi. One copy was sent to M/S M. Sea Pharmaceutical, who sent a reply that they had never manufactured the Solvit Tablets. This shows that the drugs were being manufactured in the name of other manufacturers. The police seized the Rent Deed and credit certificates from Atul Gupta, which show that he had sublet the premises to M/s Soliance Pharma Product through its Proprietor, Saurabh Behal. No owner of any licensed Pharma manufacturing unit can sublet the premises to any other person or firm without approval from the competent authority. The consignment papers, Form-26 dated 27.06. 2011 and Invoice No. 1055 dtd. 26/6/2011 from Satwinder Singh were seized by the police. M/s Himalayan Laboratories was found with drugs and packing bearing the name of the manufacturer, which does not exist and does not possess a valid drug license; hence, such drugs are spurious as defined under Sec. 17-B(c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940. The Drugs Licensing Authority also informed that no license was issued. License Nos. SL-MNB/11/57 and SL-MB/11/58 were granted in favour of M/s NBZ Pharma Limited and M/s IPCA Laboratories Limited, respectively. Hence, the accused had fraudulently used fake licenses for manufacturing and selling the drugs. Petitioner Atul Gupta, being the proprietor of M/s Himalayan Laboratories, had filed an application for release of the premises, which is pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Court No.1, Paonta Sahib. The permission to launch the prosecution was granted by the State Drugs Controller. The accused was manufacturing the drugs purporting to be the drugs of some other manufacturer. The drugs were not of standard quality and were misbranded. Therefore, the complaint was filed before the Court to take action against the accused.

(3.) Learned Trial Court ordered the issuance of the summons. The petitioner/accused filed a petition for quashing the summoning order, which was registered as CRMMO No. 76 of 2015 and the same was dismissed on 13/7/2016. The petitioner again filed a petition under Sec. 482 of CrPC, which was registered as CrMMO No. 679 of 2022 and the same was also dismissed on 26/2/2024. Learned Trial Court ordered the framing of charges on 8/7/2024.