Temporary storage of drugs at an unlicensed place counts as stocking for sale and attracts licensing liability.

Temporary storage of drugs at an unlicensed place, even where the storage is short-term and part of onward distribution, falls within "stocking for sale" under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules. The statutory scheme requires a licence for every place where drugs are stocked for sale, and the Court applied a purposive construction to prevent evasion and protect public health. Technical gaps in the licensing forms do not override the Act and Rules. As a result, stop-gap storage outside licensed premises is treated as a licensing contravention attracting penal liability.

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Issues: Whether temporary storage of drugs at an unlicensed place outside the licensed premises, as part of the intended distribution process, amounted to stocking for sale within the meaning of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Rules, so as to attract liability.

Analysis: The statutory scheme required a licence for every place where drugs were stocked for sale. The licensing forms did not expressly cater to mobile wholesale distribution or short-term transit storage, but the Act and Rules were held to prevail over any technical deficiency in the forms. Applying purposive construction and the mischief rule, the Court held that the legislation must be read so as to suppress evasion and protect public health. Temporary or stop-gap storage of drugs at a place where there was no licence, even if not intended for immediate sale at that place, formed part of the sales business and fell within the expression stocking for sale.

Conclusion: Temporary storage of drugs at an unlicensed place, even for a short interval and as part of eventual distribution elsewhere, amounted to stocking for sale and constituted a contravention attracting penal liability.

Ratio Decidendi: A place where drugs are temporarily stored as part of the distribution process, though not for immediate sale there, must be licensed because such storage is within the scope of stocking for sale under the Act and Rules.

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