The Supreme Court on Tuesday lashed out at the central government for not taking any action against the misleading and false advertisement of yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s company Patanjali Ayurveda and ordered that all electronic and print advertisements of medicines containing misleading information should be stopped with immediate effect.
The order was passed by a bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah.
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali had published several advertisements portraying allopathy and doctors as poor. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) filed a petition against this in the Supreme Court and after its hearing, this temporary order was issued.
“Patanjali Company is misleading the entire country with its advertisements,” said the Supreme Court, “This is really unfortunate. What is the central government doing? Are you blindfolded? The government should take immediate action in this regard,” the bench said.
The bench also directed the company to stop all electronic and print advertisements of the drugs giving misleading information with immediate effect.
“You have turned a blind eye for two years even when there are laws to prevent such misleading advertisements. Supreme Court Bench Justice Ashanuddin Amanullah told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj that this shows that the government has turned a blind eye.
Speaking on this occasion, the legal officer of the center said, “Misleading advertisements will not be accepted. However, you have said that it is up to the concerned states to take action under the said Act.
In November last year, the Supreme Court had warned Patanjali Ayurveda against giving “false” and “misleading” information in advertisements about its medicines. However, Baba Ramdev and the managing director of the company, Acharya Balakrishna, who held a press conference the very next day, spoke against it.
The Supreme Court, which got angry during the hearing today, asked why a contempt of court case should not be filed against you and issued a notice.
The court scolded the lawyer for Patanjali, ‘How dare you give such an advertisement even after the order of this court. You gave the wrong advertisement despite the court order. It is called a permanent solution. What is a permanent solution? Is this a cure? Today we are going to give a tough order. “You are doing the work of maligning the court,” said the justice.
The court has barred Patanjali Ayurveda from advertising its products related to diseases/disorders specified in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 with effect from this moment. Along with this, the Supreme Court has also directed Patanjali Ayurveda and company MD Acharya Balakrishna to issue a contempt notice for publishing misleading advertisements.
The Supreme Court had earlier warned of a fine of ₹ 1 crore each for each false claim made in the advertisement of Patanjali Ayurvedic products claiming to cure diseases.
