THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 5, 2016- Topic 2
Good intentions alone are not enough to secure
the public interest. For governments, the manner in which it is protected is
equally vital. The Delhi High Court verdict quashing all notifications banning
the manufacture and sale of 344 Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs is a lesson in how not to
administer a regulatory law. The ban on combination drugs that have little
therapeutic value was undoubtedly done for bona fide reasons. However, the government could
not convince the court that the ban was valid despite statutory bodies such as
the Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB) and the Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) not being involved in the process. There is little doubt that a number of
combination drugs should be taken off the shelf. The government believes, as do
many health activists, that some combinations are unsafe and/or promote
antibiotic resistance, while others lack particular therapeutic value,
justification or advantage. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw has correctly refrained
from going into the merits of the ban, and has chosen to subject to scrutiny
the process by which the decision was arrived at. While concluding that the ban
was invalid because the power under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act was exercised
without consulting the DTAB and DCC, he has found that the government went
about the process in a haphazard manner.
Initially it was noted that in the case of FDC drugs for
which manufacturing licences were granted by State licensing authorities
between September 1988 and October 2012, the process was done without any
approval from the Drugs Controller. When they applied afresh to the Centre, on
being asked to do so, their applications were not considered by the Drugs
Controller; instead, the Centre formed 10 committees. When these panels failed
to consider all the applications, another one, the Kokate Committee, was
formed. However, this panel went into the question whether these drugs posed a
risk to consumers or lacked therapeutic value and justification. Based on its
report, the Centre issued notifications banning these FDCs. In effect, the
Centre seemed to have delegated its power to ban drugs to a non-statutory
committee, when the Act itself provided for expert bodies through which
technical aspects of administering the law were to be considered. The
government ought to have been more mindful of the processes. It is possible
that an appeal will be filed on the legal aspects of the judgment, but the real
lesson from the episode concerns governance, and not the law alone.
Vocabulary
Vital: absolutely necessary or important; essential.
Example: Secrecy is of vital importance
Synonyms: essential, critical, crucial, key, indispensable, integral
Therapeutic: of or relating to the healing of disease.
Example: Diagnostic and therapeutic facilities
Synonyms: healing, curative, remedial, medicinal, restorative, salubrious
Shelf: a flat length of wood or rigid material, attached to a wall or forming part
of a piece of furniture, that provides a surface for the storage or display of
objects.
Example: The pieces were displayed on shelves , propped against the wall,
emphasizing their three-dimensionality.
Synonyms: ledge, sill, bracket, rack, mantelpiece, shelving
Resistance: the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent
something by action or argument.
Example: She put up no resistance to being led away
Synonyms: opposition to, hostility to, refusal to accept
Refrained: stop oneself from doing something.
Example: She refrained from comment
Synonyms: abstain from, desist from, hold back from, stop
oneself from
Posed: present or constitute (a problem, danger, or difficulty).
Example: The sheer number of visitors is posing a threat to the area
Synonyms: constitute, present, create, cause, produce, be
Delegated: entrust a task or responsibility to
another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself.
Example: He delegates routine tasks
Synonyms: assign, entrust, pass on, hand on/over, turn over, devolve
Quashing: reject or void, especially by legal procedure.
Example: His conviction was quashed on appeal
Synonyms: cancel, reverse, rescind, repeal, revoke, retract, countermand
