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Pharmacy Council of India vs. Rajeev College of Pharmacy and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 965Decided 15 Sept 2022
Civil Appeal No. 6681 of 2022
B.R. Gavai · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · C.T. Ravikumar instead

Background

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) passed resolutions in July and September 2019 imposing a five-year moratorium on opening new pharmacy colleges (with some exemptions), citing the need to check the "mushrooming" of such institutions. Several pharmacy colleges, including Rajeev College of Pharmacy, challenged the moratorium before the High Courts of Karnataka, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, all of which struck down the moratorium and allowed the colleges' writ petitions. PCI appealed to the Supreme Court against all three High Court rulings, along with several other connected appeals and writ petitions on the same issue.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed PCI's appeals and upheld the High Courts' decisions. It held that the right to establish an educational institution is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, and that any reasonable restriction on that right can only be imposed by law (i.e., a statute or properly framed regulation), not by an executive resolution of the Council. Since PCI's moratorium was merely a resolution/executive instruction and not a regulation framed under the Pharmacy Act, 1948, it could not validly restrict this fundamental right and was struck down on that short ground. The Court clarified that PCI could still regulate and even restrict the opening of new colleges in appropriate cases (for example, scrutinizing individual applications based on need in a given area), but any blanket, general prohibition had to be imposed through a properly framed regulation, not a resolution.

Lesson Learnt

A regulatory body cannot restrict a citizen's fundamental right to start an educational institution merely through an internal executive resolution; any such restriction must be grounded in a validly framed law or regulation, not administrative fiat.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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