MUMBAI, Aug. 12 -- The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted relief to Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd while pulling up the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for stopping the sale and distribution of some of its medicines and seizing its stocks, observing that the regulatory authority was just "displaying its powers" through such action. The court also warned the FDA to exercise its power "judiciously". A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad expressed concern over the non-availability of medicines to patients for 32 days. "We are concerned that the drug was not available to the patients for 20 days, effectively 32 days till today," it said. "Shooting first and asking questions later is a rule of the Wild West, which does not apply in the areas of law," it added. The FDA had halted the sale and distribution of several Cadila Pharmaceuticals products, including Aciloc 150, Aciloc 150 Plus, Aciloc 300 and Aciloc 300 Plus, stating that the branding of these medicines was similar to other products. Cadila challenged this decision before the Bombay High Court, arguing that the summary seizure of stock worth Rs.2.45 crore, without even issuing a prior show-cause notice, significantly disrupted its operations across the state. Appearing for FDA, government pleader Neha Bhide clarified that some of Cadila's medicines had several medication errors as it had similar branding with different active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). "It was a preventive measure, not a high-handed action," she said. However, Bhide assured the court that the FDA would revoke the earlier stop-sale notice and follow due procedure, including issuing show-cause notices and granting a hearing before passing any order. Noting that the company should have been granted a hearing before such a drastic step was taken against it, the court remarked, "We have no doubts about your powers. You only display your powers but the problem is that, as I said last week, you have the power to use the sword, but you use it to kill a mosquito. Power has to be judiciously exercised. How to use the powers with adequate propriety is the question." Reiterating that the situation created difficulties for the patients, the court said, "We are not worried about the loss faced by the company in the past two weeks. We are worried about those people who have not had access to these medicines," and disposed of the petition....