The SC was annoyed over an advertisement issued by Patanjali on Dec 4, 2023, after it had assured the court on Nov 21, 2023 that it would not make any “casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine”
AMN / WEB DESK
The Supreme Court came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved on Tuesday, its Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna and its co-founder Baba Ramdev in the misleading advertisements case. A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association against Patanjali’s advertisements attacking allopathy and making claims about curing certain diseases. The court was not content with the affidavit filed by Balkrishna and said it will not accept the explanation provided. The court also asked the Ministry of AYUSH why it had not acted against Patanjali for the ads belittling contemporary medicine. The apex court, however, gave Ramdev and Balakrishna one last chance to file the affidavit in one week.
Hearing a plea by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) accusing the company of allegedly violating provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, and making statements critical of allopathy, the bench had on March 19 sought the personal presence of Acharya Balkrishna and Baba Ramdev before it. The duo had appeared before the court on Tuesday.
In the affidavit filed in response to the notice, Acharya Balkrishna said he “regrets that the advertisement in question which was meant to contain only general statements inadvertently included the offending sentences… The same was bona-fide and added in routine course by the media department of the…Company,” he said, adding “the personnel of the media department of the…Company were not cognizant of the order dated 21.11.2023.”
Appearing for Balkrishna and the company, Senior Advocate Vipin Sanghi accepted that there was a mistake, but it did not convince the court. “But what did you do in November? What engages us is what you did and how you conducted yourself after you give an undertaking to this court in November. The whole thing follows from then — lapse by you, lapse by your company, and lapse by the third proposed contemnor (Baba Ramdev) who is the co-founder and promoter of the same brand. Conducting press conference the next day. You were all cognizant of the court proceedings. You can’t feign ignorance. That’s the point,” the court said.