ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday said resolutions of provincial assemblies should always be given widest amplitude and rejected an appeal seeking the suspension of a portion of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) Act 2012 that relates to Tibb-i-Unani.

“We are not persuaded that the Sindh High Court has misconstrued the resolution of the Sindh Assembly or any inroad has been made in the provincial autonomy (with the passage of DRAP Act by parliament),” Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed while rejecting the appeal moved by All Pakistan Unani Medicine Manufacturers Association.

In its order the high court had held that the Drap Act 2012 was fully applicable to the Unani system.

Senior counsel Munir Paracha, who represented the association, pleaded before the three-judge apex court bench to suspend the portion of the act until the approval of the Tibb-i-Unani Ayurvedic, Homoepathic, Herbal and other Non-Allopathic Medicine Bill 2009 still pending with the National Assembly.

Passage of Drap Act by parliament did not make any inroad in provincial autonomy, observes chief justice

After the abolition of the concurrent legislative list under the 18th amendment, drugs and medicines became a provincial subject and the power of the parliament to legislate for provinces on such subjects became circumscribed by the provisions of Article 144 of the Constitution.

But on Feb 15, 2012, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution authorising the parliament to enact a law regarding establishment of the Drug Regulatory Authority. Likewise, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also followed suit. In response, the parliament under Article 144 enacted the Drap Act which became a law on Nov 13, 2013.

On Monday, the petitioner requested the apex court to declare that Tibb-i-Unani, ayurvedic, homoepathic, herbal and other non-allopathic medicine system of treatment generally called eastern medicine system was equitably different from the western medicine system commonly known as allopathic system.

The association said Unani was a recognised traditional medicine system and practiced worldwide with different terminologies such as traditional Chinese medicine, Indian Ayurveda and Arabic Unani or Islamic medicine.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also recognises the traditional medicine and through a resolution in 2009 had asked the states to respect and preserve the knowledge while formulating national policies.

A WHO study also suggests that over 70pc of the population of Pakistan used traditional treatment systems for primary healthcare needs which included Hakeems, Tabibs and homeopaths.

Currently, there are over 10,000 herbal/Unani product manufacturers in Pakistan and over 150,000 traditional healthcare practitioners, including homeopaths.

The petition requested the apex court to declare that the Drap Act 2012 was implementable only to the allopathic system of medicines where the manufacturers, importers, exporters and sellers of Tibb-i-Unani are excluded from their domain.

The court was also urged to direct the government to get the bill pending in the parliament adopted.

The petition had also sought a restraining order against the concerned authorities from taking coercive or adverse actions against the members of the association.

During the proceedings, Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed that though the provincial assemblies had authorised the parliament to enact the Drap law, in essence it would remain a federal law.

The chief justice also observed that the parliament had made a uniform law otherwise different provinces would have made different laws.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2018