The committee, it is believed, will discuss this matter in depth at a meeting slated for April 14. At present, the complex nature of varying sales-tax tariffs, octroi, value-added tax, and turnover tax indirectly means that a medicine costing say Rs 50 will cost around Rs 52 in Delhi, Rs 52.25 in Uttar Pradesh, Rs 51.50 in Madhya Pradesh and so on, much to the discomfort of consumers.

If the AIOCD's proposals are cleared, it may necessitate certain changes in the labelling of controlled/decontrolled drugs. Manufacturers may be asked todistinguish between controlled and decontrolled drugs by affixing a red band for the former and green for the latter, it is learnt.

Industry sources say that the AIOCD's petition is based on the fact that while other packaged commodities carry the printed price as MRP (inclusive of all taxes), prices on medicines carry a tag, for example, "Retail price not to exceed Rs 50".

"Manufacturers of medicines are allowed to print prices with local taxes extra as per certain provisions of the DPCO, while chemists are entitled to recover from buyers the amount of taxes paid by them to their suppliers while procuring medicines," the petition says.

Sources say that the collection of local taxes has grown to be a major problem as customers in certain places refuse to pay more than the printed-pack price. "Even consumer-redressal forums in certain parts of the country have passed judgments against the recovery of such suffered taxes. Besides, chemists also face harassment from sales tax authorities given that moststates have not provided any amount as suffered taxes in their sales tax acts and rules," they add.

The sources say that with an average chemist stocking and selling at least 6,000 different brands/packs of medicines, it becomes almost impossible to collect the exact amount of suffered taxes from the customer. Moreover, any excess collection, they claim, will invite penal action under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.