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The Pharmacy Council of India v. Dr. S.K. Toshniwal Educational Trusts Vidarbha Institute of Pharmacy and Ors. Etc.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2020 INSC 276Decided 5 Mar 2020
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 926 of 2018
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice Vineet Saran · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

This was a large batch of transferred cases, appeals, and writ petitions (originally pending in the Bombay, Andhra Pradesh and Allahabad High Courts) raising a common question: when the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) refuses to approve an increase in student intake or a second shift at a pharmacy college, but the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approves it anyway, which regulator's decision prevails? Several colleges had expanded their intake relying on AICTE's approval despite PCI's refusal, and various High Courts had ruled that AICTE's decision should prevail since it was described as the "supreme" technical education authority.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Pharmacy Act, 1948 is a special, self-contained law specifically governing pharmacy education, while the AICTE Act, 1987 is a general law on technical education, and following its own recent precedent on architecture education (where the Architects Act similarly prevailed over AICTE), ruled that the word "pharmacy" in the AICTE Act's definition of "technical education" must be read as inapplicable wherever PCI's regulatory framework applies. It noted that the Union Government itself had already agreed, at a ministerial level, that dual regulation should end and pharmacy should be governed solely by the Pharmacy Act. The Court directed that going forward, only PCI's norms govern recognition, intake capacity, and approval of pharmacy courses, though it protected students already admitted under earlier court orders from being disturbed. All the transferred cases, appeals and writ petitions (including the lead matter under this diary number) were disposed of accordingly.

Lesson Learnt

Where two government regulators have overlapping jurisdiction over the same professional field, the specialised law (here, the Pharmacy Act) prevails over the general law (the AICTE Act): students and institutions should look to the sector-specific regulator, not a general education authority, for authoritative approval in specialised fields like pharmacy.

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

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