MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday issued notice to the union and state governments on a PIL seeking establishment of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Madurai district. The litigant R Manibharathi, an advocate from Madurai, said NIPER is the first national-level institute with a proclaimed objective of becoming a centre of excellence for advanced studies and research in pharmaceutical sciences.
It was started by the Union government in Mohali in 1998 and later established in Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Raebareli. Though the Eighth Finance Commission, at a meeting in January 20, 2011, recommended setting up NIPER in Madurai and the TN government allotted 116 acres of land for it, the project has not been started, the litigant alleged.
This delay is affecting students of Tamil Nadu who aspire to study pharmaceutical sciences, and impedes the growth of pharma industry in the state, he added and sought the above direction. A Bench of justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad issued notice and adjourned the case by three weeks.