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Madhya Pradesh High Court: In a writ appeal filed by a distributor of Coldrif cough syrup against the order whereby his petition against the sealing of his ship and cancellation of his drug license was rejected, the Division Bench of Sanjeev Sachdeva*, CJ., Vinay Saraf, J., dismissed the appeal holding that there was no infirmity in the view taken by the Single Judge or any merit in the appeal.
Background
In Praveen Soni (Dr) v. State, 2025 SCC OnLine Dis Crt (MP) 1, the Court noted the chain of events that led to the death of more than 20 children in Madhya Pradesh due to the excessive quantity of diethylene glycol(“DG”) found in the cough syrup. The Court noted that the children, on average aged 5 years old, had visited the doctor complaining of a common cold, cough, or fever, and the majority of them were prescribed the Coldrif Cough Syrup and other medicines. Thereafter, the children developed difficulty in passing urine, and their reports depicted acute kidney disorder. Soon, the children started dying one by one, and by 04-10-2025, 10 children had passed away due to acute kidney disease, and 6 were admitted for treatment.
The Court further noted that the test report of the cough syrup stated that 48.6% of DG was found in the cough syrup, which was a toxic and adulterated amount. The Court remarked that DG was an extremely dangerous substance that can cause acute kidney failure and had resulted in the death of children.
The appellant admittedly was a distributor of the Coldrif cough syrup. A raid was conducted on his premises on 02-10-2025 where stock of the said cough syrup was found and his shop was sealed. Thereafter, on 09-10-2025, a show cause notice was issued to him to explain why his license shall not be suspended and cancelled under the action under the Drug and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 (“DC Rules”). Another show cause notice was issued on 11-10-2025 giving the appellant time to respond on that very day.
The appellant contended that he had filed a reply on 10-10-2025 asking for more time to respond on the ground that his documents were lying sealed in the subject premises. However, the appellant’s drug license was suspended and cancelled.
Aggrieved, he filed a writ petition against the sealing of his shop of appellant and the suspension and cancellation of his licence. The petition was dismissed by the Single Judge rejected the petition holding that the appellant had an alternative efficacious remedy of appeal in terms of Rule 66(2) of the DC Rules, whereby an appeal is permitted to the State Government.
Hence, the present appeal.
Analysis
At the outset, the Court remarked that the subject case was one of the most shocking cases in the medical history where as many as 30 children died by alleged consumption of the Coldrif cold syrup.
The Court upheld the Single Judge’s opinion that the appellant had an efficacious alternative remedy of filing an appeal before the State Government. Thus, the Court agreed with the Single Judge for refusing to exercise the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.
“The remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not an absolute remedy, but it’s a discretionary remedy.”
The Court held that this was not a case where Court should exercise the discretion under Article 226 of the Constitution. The Court further stated that in case an appeal is filed by the appellant before the State Government, the State Government would be entitled to look into all the facts and circumstances of the case to decide the said appeal.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the appeal holding that there was no infirmity in the view taken by the Single Judge or any merit in the appeal.
[Rajpal Kataria v. State of Madhya Pradesh, Writ Appeal No. 3259 of 2025, decided on 25-11-2025]
*Judgment authored by: Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Pal Jain and Sahil Billa
For the respondent: Government Advocate Anubhav Jain
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