President Murmu delegates power to Ladakh LG to control drug advertising under Drugs and Magic Remedies Act

New Delhi [India], July 4 (ANI): President Droupadi Murmu has delegated power to Ladakh Lieutenant Governor under the Drugs and Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 to control the advertising of drugs within the jurisdiction of the newly established Union Territory.

As per a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ladakh LG will now exercise the powers under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act across Ladakh, which was established as a Union Territory of India on October 31, 2019, following the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. Prior to its establishment as a Union Territory, Ladakh was part of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

The LG of Ladakh, which is both the largest and the second least populous Union Territory in the country, will discharge the fresh powers under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act until fresh orders.

“In pursuance of clause (1) of article 239 of the Constitution, the President hereby directs that the Lieutenant Governor of the Union territory of Ladakh shall, subject to the control of the President and until further order, exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the State Government under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 (21 of 1954) within the said Union Territory,” states the notification issued on Monday.

Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 controls the advertisement of drugs in certain cases, to prohibit the advertisement for certain purposes of remedies alleged to possess magic qualities. ‘Magic remedy’ includes a talisman, mantra, kavacha, and any other charm of any kind which is alleged to possess miraculous powers for or in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease in human beings or animals or for affecting or influencing in any way the structure or any organic function of the body of human beings or animals.

The Act extends to the whole of India as per the delegation of powers by President and applies also to persons domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who are outside the said territories. It shall come into force on the date, as the Central Government notify it in the Official Gazette.

A medicine for the internal or external use of human beings or animals comes under its ambit as well as those substances intended to be used for or in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in human beings or animals.