DRUGS (PUNJAB AMENDMENT) ACT, 2018

DRUGS (PUNJAB AMENDMENT) ACT, 2018

An Act further to amend the Drugs Act, 1976.

[Gazette of Punjab, Extraordinary, 24th May, 2018]

ACT XVIII OF 2018

No. PAP/Legis-2(200)/2018/1764.–The Drugs (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, having been passed by the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on May 16, 2018, and assented to by the Governor of the Punjab on May 21, 2018, is hereby published as an Act of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab.

It is necessary further to amend the Drugs Act, 1976 (XXXI of 1976) for purposes hereinafter appearing:

Be it enacted by Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as follows:

1.     Short title and commencement.–(1) This Act may be cited as the Drugs (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2018.

(2)  It shall come into force at once.

2.     Omission of Section 23-A, Section 23-B and Section 23-C in Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Drugs Act, 1976 (XXXI of 1976), hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’, Section 23-A, Section 23-B and Section 23-C shall be omitted.

3.     Amendment in Section 27 of Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, in Section 27:

(1)      in sub-section (1):

(i)       for clause (a), the following shall be substituted:

“(a)     exports, imports, manufactures or sells any spurious drug or adulterated drug which causes death or physical disability or any drug which is not registered;”;

(ii)      clause (c) shall be omitted;

(2)      in sub-section (2), for the expression “but which shall not be less than two years and with fine which may extend to ten million rupees but which shall not be less than three million rupees”, the expression “or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both” shall be substituted;

(3)      in sub-section (3), for the expression “but which shall not be less than fourteen days and with fine which may extend to one million rupees but which shall not be less than five hundred thousand rupees”, the expression “or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both” shall be substituted;

(4)      for sub-section (3a), sub-section (3b) and sub-section (3c), the following shall be substituted:

          “(3a)  Whoever is responsible for variation in the specification which is physically or chemically ten per cent different from the specification labelled on a drug, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees or with both.

          (3b) Whoever is responsible for variation in the specification which is physically or chemically more than ten per cent but is not more than twenty per cent different from the specification labelled on a drug, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to four hundred thousand rupees or with both.

          (3c) Whoever is responsible for variation in the specification which is physically or chemically more than twenty per cent but is not more than fifty per cent different from the specification labelled on a drug, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to seven hundred thousand rupees or with both.

          (3d) Whoever is responsible for variation in the specification which is physically or chemically more than fifty per cent different from the specification labelled on a drug, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or which is three times the value of the drug taken into custody, whichever is higher, or with both and the manufacturing of the product shall remain suspended till such time that the responsibility for the lapse is fixed and remedial measures, taken.”;

(5)      for sub-section (4), the following shall be substituted:

          “(4) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (1), sub-section (2), sub-section (3), sub-section (3a), sub-section (3b), sub-section (3c) and sub-section (3d), whoever himself or by any other person on his behalf contravenes any of the provisions of the Act or the rules, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to five hundred thousand rupees or with both.”; and

(6)      sub-section (5) shall be omitted.

4.  Omission of Section 27-A in Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, Section 27A shall be omitted.

5.  Amendment in Section 28 of Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, in Section 28:

(1)      in sub-section (2), for the expression “which shall not be less than five years and with fine which may extend to seventy million rupees but which shall not be less than thirty million rupees”, the expression “which shall not to be less than two years and with fine which may extend to one and a half million rupees but which shall not be less than three hundred thousand rupees” shall be substituted; and

(2)      for the existing sub-section (2a), the following shall be substituted:

          “(2a) Whoever having been convicted of an offence under sub-section (3a), sub-section (3b), sub-section (3c) and sub-section (3d) of Section 27, is convicted for a subsequent offence under any of those sub-sections shall, if the drug is not recalled as prescribed by the Provincial Government, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall extend to seven years but which shall not be less than two years and with fine which may extend to one and a half million rupees but which shall not be less than five times the value of the drug taken into custody.”; and

(3)      in sub-section (3), for the expression “ten years but which shall not be less than ninety days and with fine which may extend to ten million rupees but which shall not be less than one million rupees”, the expression “seven years but which shall not be less than thirty days and with fine which may extend to one million rupees but which shall not be less than three hundred thousand rupees” shall be substituted.

6.     Insertion of Section 28A in Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, after Section 28, the following new Section 28A shall be inserted:

“28-A. Recall of drugs.–A person charged with the commission of an offence under sub-section (3) of Section 28, shall be deemed to have committed no offence when the drug which is subject of that offence, has not caused any death or physical disability and is recalled as prescribed by the Provincial Government.”

7.     Amendment in Section 30 of Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, in Section 30, in sub-section (2), clause (b) shall be omitted.

8.     Amendment in Section 31 of Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, in Section 31, in sub-section (2), the following proviso shall be added:

“Provided that the Chairman and one of the members shall constitute quorum of a Drug Court for purposes of deciding all the matters under the Act other than the final hearing and decision of a case.”.

9.     Amendment in Section 41-A of Act XXXI of 1976.–In the Act, in Section 41 A, in sub-section (1), for the word “thirty”, the word “fifteen” shall be substituted.