The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the Centre's notification banning drugs manufactured by the Abbott India and Macleods Pharma till March 21.
During the hearing, the Centre justified the notification of banning the drugs, saying that the government empowered under Drugs and Cosmetics Act. The Centre would be filing its affidavit by Friday.
The court also made an observation, saying that how come 344 drugs, out of which some drugs have been in the market for 28 years, suddenly became harmful.
The government had banned 344 drug combinations over the weekend, including Abbott's codeine-based cough syrup, after a government panel of experts found they had "no therapeutic justification.