High Courts Split on Codeine Cough Syrup Cases as Calcutta Grants Bail and Allahabad Refuses

Overview

• The Calcutta High Court granted bail to licensed chemist Vijay Prakash Goel, ruling that mere seizure of codeine-based cough syrup and Tramadol capsules did not justify continued custody without proof of illegal procurement, sale, or record failures.
• Justice Tirthankar Ghosh noted West Bengal produced no notification or circular setting storage ceilings for such syrups, contrasting this with Uttar Pradesh where the FSDA has fixed limits for wholesalers and retailers.
• The court highlighted investigative lapses, including the absence of manufacturer verification for seized batch numbers, and ordered Goel’s release on a ₹20,000 bond with conditions restricting travel outside Howrah without permission.
• In a separate case, the Allahabad High Court denied bail to Abdul Qadir and a co-accused after police recovered 119 boxes containing 11,885 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup while the drugs were being loaded into a car.
• Justice Ashutosh Srivastava held that the therapeutic-use exemption under the 1985 central notification must be strictly met, finding the large recovery violated the requirement of established therapeutic practice and thus attracted NDPS provisions.