Madras HC ban on Online Sale of Medicines stayed till December 19 [Read Order]

The Madras High Court has temporarily suspended its order banning the online sale of medicines through e-pharmacies till December 19, after an in-chamber request was made on behalf of the affected companies..Following a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Drugs Association (TNCDA) to restrain such online sale, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana had delivered the judgment in TNCDA’s favour this morning..The judge had ordered the Central government to notify rules to regulate the online sale of medicines by January 31, 2019. E-pharmacies were directed to register and comply with the notified rules within two months thereafter. Until such time, the Court, in its judgment passed this morning, had held that they were bound not to conduct the online sale of medicines..However, the respondent-companies requested the judge in chamber that the order be kept at abeyance so that they may appeal against the same before a larger bench this week. The Court is due to shut for the Christmas break at the end of the week..Justice Sathyanarayana has allowed the request. Accordingly, the orders passed in her judgment banning the online sale of medicines have been stayed until December 19. If the judgment is not reversed/stayed, it will take effect from the morning of December 20. Instructions to this effect have been added to a revised version of the judgment, in which it is stated..“After the pronouncement of the order, learned senior counsels appearing for the private respondents submitted that the on-line drug traders will be forced to plug the trade of on-line medicines till they prefer an appeal and requested not to give effect to the order…..…Having regard to the submissions of either side, the order passed today will not be given effect to till 10.30 a.m. on 20.12.2018.”.In October, Justice R Mahadevan had ordered an interim injunction on the unlicensed sale of online medicines, after TNCDA’s plea was admitted. The matter was posted before Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana following a roster change..On a related note, the Delhi High Court passed an order restraining the online sale of medicines last week, on a similar plea made by a dermatologist. After taking note of the Madras High Court’s interim order on the matter, the Delhi High Court had opined that there was no reason for similar directions not to be issued in the petition before it..Read the revised judgment below: