High Court quashes Pharmacy Council’s communication on eligibility to pharma course

Telangana High Court had quashed a communication issued by the Pharmacy Council of India in 2011 stating that Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) and Bridge Course conducted by Board of Intermediate Education were not approved for admission into Diploma in Pharmacy (D. Pharm) course.

The verdict was pronounced by the bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti disposing of different batches of writ petitions filed in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The petitioners had completed Intermediate (Vocational) course and got admitted to B. Pharmacy courses in different years. The PCI issued communication in 2011 stating that MLT and Bridge Course conducted by BIE were not recognised minimum qualifications for admission into D. Pharm course.

The petitioners moved the HC seeking a direction to the PCI to get them registered as pharmacists though they secured admissions with Intermediate (Vocational) as minimum qualification. The PCI wrote on February 10, 2020 to the Pharmacy Councils of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana not to accept Intermediate (Vocational) course as minimum qualification for admission to D. Pharm course.

In the backdrop of an earlier decision of the HC, the PCI decided to give a onetime relaxation to candidates who had been admitted in D. Pharm before February 10, 2020 for getting registered as pharmacists. Upholding the PCI’s decision, the bench, however, permitted the candidates who got admitted to D. Pharm course prior to February 10, 2020 for registration as pharmacists.