Ram Vilas Paswan orders FIR against pharma company for flouting labelling norms

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has decided to act againt a pharmaceutical company for not writing price, expiry dates, and product information on its medicines. The drug's distributor from Andhra Pradesh has been booked.

Paswan directed the authorities to register a case against the company. The action was taken after receiving multiple complaints. Its warehouse was also raided and all the stock was seized.

Paswan had reportedly heard that the drug company was rigging important information on medicines. Upon verification, the information was found to be true and in clear violation of the rules. The manufacturer's name, expiry date and helpline number were not written on the medicine. The size of the letters was also smaller than the prescribed 1 mm, making it unreadable. The medicine in question is Seder OM.

Following this, Paswan directed the Department of Legal Metrology to lodge an FIR against the drug distributor in Guntur. 

Paswan said that raids were conducted on the premises of the distributor and seller under section 15 of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and packets of the above medicine have been seized.

The minister also informed that it is mandatory to write the producer's name, expiry date, MRP and other important information on the product. If people do not see this information on a product, they can file a complaint. He also urged consumers to file complaints, if they find any information missing on the package of any product.

Paswan said that the details of the manufacturer, date of expiry, maximum retail price (MRP) and other details of the product should be legible and should be given on packages of all the products.

He said that this will create deterrence in the minds of the manufacturers who indulge in unfair practices or push sub-standard products into the market.