Alfaaz- The Words
New Delhi: Patanjali Ayurved on Thursday issued an apology to the Supreme Court for the company’s misleading claims and advertisements regarding its products and their medicinal efficacy. The development came a day after the Supreme Court initiated proceedings against Baba Ramdev for not responding to a contempt notice over misleading ads.
The bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah had asked Acharya Balkrishna, managing director of Patanjali Ayurved and Yog guru Ramdev to appear in court on April 2.
The apex court said it deemed appropriate to issue a show cause notice to Ramdev as the advertisements issued by Patanjali, which were in the teeth of the undertaking given to the court on November 21, 2023, reflect an endorsement by him.
The court directed them to personally appear before it at the next hearing.
“In view of the facts and circumstances, it is deemed appropriate to direct the presence of the managing director of respondent no. 5 on the next date of hearing.
“Further, having gone through the advertisements issued by respondent 5 (Patanjali Ayurved) in the teeth of the undertaking given to this court on November 21, 2023 and on noticing that the said advertisements reflect an endorsement thereof by Acharya Ramdev, it is deemed appropriate to issue notice to show cause as to why contempt of court proceedings be not initiated against him in view of the fact that this court is of the prima facie opinion that he has also violated the provisions of section 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act’,” it said.
Section 3 of the Act refers to prohibition of advertisement of certain drugs for treatment of certain diseases and disorders and Section 4 of the Act refers to prohibition of misleading advertisements relating to drugs.
On November 21 last year, the counsel representing the company had assured the court that “henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form”.
The top court is hearing a plea of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev against the Covid vaccination drive and modern system of medicine.
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