New Delhi: A five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will adjudicate whether in the absence of Parliament taking a decision can the court give a direction to the government to act on the basis of the report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
A two-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Rohinton Nariman referred the important question of law for adjudication by a five-judge bench even as the Centre made it clear that standing committee reports are meant to be taken as an advice given to Parliament and no direction can be given to government to act on it. It was submitted that it was for Parliament to act on the report, accept or reject the same. The bench was dealing with a public interest writ petition against licensing and trials with “cervical cancer” vaccines with unproven and hazardous Human Papill-omavirus vaccines ost-ensibly to prevent cervical cancer.
According to the petitioners Kalpana Mehta and others, Gardasil and Cervarix are two unproven and hazardous HPV vaccines purported to prevent cervical cancer, marketed in India by MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. and GlaxoSm-ithKline Ltd.
They questioned their licensing for use in the private sector and attempts to introduce them in the public sector. The petition said the Drugs Controller had granted licence for the vaccines without adequate research on safety and efficacy and the health ministry did not carry out an enquiry into licensing of these vaccines as ordered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare in April 2010.
The ministry also did not take action on the report of the enquiry committee set up by itself despite irregularities of the PATH project being confirmed. Rather than looking at efficacy of these vaccines, this project was meant to influence the government for their introduction in to the public sector, they said.
