The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for failing to respond to a contempt notice for issuing misleading advertisements and ordered Yoga Guru Ramdev to appear before it. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also summoned Patanjali managing director Acharya Balkrishna.
The Supreme Court last month pulled up Patanjali for prima facie violation of its assurances about its products and statements claiming their medicinal efficacy. The court had issued a notice to Patanjali and Balkrishna, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.
The ads, promoting herbal products as permanent cure for incurable diseases, had continued to appear in the media despite a Supreme Court order on November 21, 2023, asking Patanjali not to do so. The court had during a hearing on February 27 said “the entire country is being taken for a ride and the government is sitting with its eyes shut”.
It noted that Patanjali did not file a response even though it had held a press conference after its previous order. “Why haven’t you filed your response yet? We will ask the managing director to appear in the court during the next hearing,” the court said.
The order states both Ramdev and Balakrishna were prima facie in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Remedies Act, which deal with misleading ads of medicines. The court also issued a contempt notice to Ramdev, co-founder of Patanjali, and asked him to explain why he should not face action for contempt of court.
“On the last date of hearing, notice to show cause was issued to respondent No. 5 (Ramdev) and its managing director — Acharya Balkrishna (respondent No. 6) as to why contempt of court proceedings be not initiated against them for violating the order dated 21st November, 2023. At the request of learned counsel appearing for the aforesaid respondent, a period of two weeks was granted to file a reply. The reply is not on record,” the bench said.
