The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 19th March, directed the Managing Director of Patanjali Acharya Balakrishnan and co-founder Baba Ramdev to make a personal appearance before the Court.
The directive was issued by the bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah in a case wherein it previously issued a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved and its MD for flouting the court’s November orders regarding the ‘misleading claims advertisements’ of Patanjali Ayurved products.
Noting that the reply to the contempt notice was not filed, the apex court sought the personal appearance of Acharya Balakrishna and Baba Ramdev.
The Court stated, “On the last date of hearing, notice to show cause was issued to the Respondent No. 5 (Patanjali) and its Managing Director as to why the contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them…a period of two weeks was granted to file a reply and reply is not on record. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, it is deemed appropriate to direct the presence of the MD of Resp 5 on the next date of the hearing. Further, having gone through the advertisements issued by Respondent No. 5 in the teeth of the undertaking given to this Court on 21.11.2023 and on noticing that the said advertisements to issue show cause notice as to why the contempt of proceedings should not be issued against him in view of the fact that this Court is prima facie of the opinion that he has also violated the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act.”
The Court further stated, “List on…the proposed contemnor/managing director of respondent no 5 shall remain present on the next date of hearing along with the newly impleaded proposed contemnor Acharya Ramdev.”
The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which raised concerns over the spread of misinformation regarding allopathy and the modern system of medicine.
The IMA has accused Patanjali of misleading advertisements which disparage allopathy and make false claims about curing certain diseases.
The IMA sought to direct the Centre, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority of India) to take action against such advertisements and campaigns to promote Ayush system by disparaging the Allopathic system.