De-Sealing: DCO summoned to court

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought the personal appearance of Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahad Cheema for Wednesday (today) on a petition seeking de-sealing of an herbal medicine factory. Petitioner, Saleem Iqbal, submitted that he had been running an herbal medicine factory in the Harbanspura area for last eight years. He said a drug inspector of Aziz Bhatti Town along with the local police raided his factory on October 8 and sealed it on the charges of manufacturing medicines without a license. He argued that the drug inspector and police had no authority to seal his factory. He said the authority rested with the Price and Quality Control Board (PQCB). He submitted that according to Section 3G (1) of Drug Act 1974, Unani and Herbal medicines were exempt from the scope of the Act and no case could be registered against the medicine factory. Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh summoned DCO Lahore to explain whether the drug inspector had the authority to seal a medicine factory under Section 19 (6) of Drug Act 1974.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2011.