Delhi HC sets aside PCI moratorium on opening new pharmacy colleges

The Delhi High Court has quashed the Pharmacy Council of India’s (PCI) 2019 decision of imposing a moratorium on the opening of new pharmacy colleges in India.

The Delhi High Court has set aside the Pharmacy Council of India’s (PCI) 2019 decision of imposing a moratorium on the opening of new pharmacy colleges in India for a period of five years starting from the academic session 2020-2021.

The moratorium does not apply to the North-Eastern region and such states or union territories where the number of pharma colleges is less than 50 and also to government colleges.

Justice Prateek Jalan said that the right to establish an educational institution has been held by the Supreme Court to be a fundamental right under Article (19)(g) of the Constitution and the court does not find any clear power to be conferred by the Pharmacy Act upon the PCI to impose the moratorium by way of a policy decision, as reported by Indian Express.

While allowing a batch of 88 writ petitions, the court said, “The exercise of executive authority by the PCI is in excess of its powers, the impugned decisions cannot be sustained.” 

The background of PCI moratorium

In July 2019, the Central Council of PCI had announced the moratorium after expressing concern about the mushrooming of pharmacy colleges in India. In 2019, there were more than 1,985 D Pharma and 1,439 B Pharma institutes in India with an annual intake of 2,19,279.

The PCI decision was challenged by those who wanted to establish pharmacy colleges in India and had procured land and physical infrastructure for the same but could not submit their applications for approval from PCI due to the moratorium.

The court found inconsistency in PCI's two considerations, one where it implemented a moratorium on the ground of vacancy in pharmacy colleges but in its communication on September 26, 2019, it said that it is contemplating the addition of two lakh pharmacists to the workforce everywhere.

The verdict says, “There is prima facie an inconsistency in these considerations, to the extent that it is unclear whether such an addition would occur despite the vacancies in the pharmacy colleges. Similarly, despite the grounds used to justify the moratorium, the PCI has, in fact, granted permission for addition of 34,800 seats on exempted institutions in the year 2020-21.” 

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