Supreme Court on April 23 asked Patanjali Ayurved's promoter Ramdev and managing director Balkrishna if the public apology they published recently in the newspapers were as big as the advertisements the company publishes. The court made this observation while hearing the contempt petition pertaining to misleading advertisements by Patanjali Ayurved.
At the beginning of the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Balakrishna and Ramdev, submitted the cuttings of public apologies tendered by Ramdev and Balakrishna. The court then proceeded to questioned him as to why this was not filed in advance, it also refused to take copies of these ads across the counter and directed that they be filed with an application.
The bench then looked at the public and asked "Is your apology the same size as your advertisement?". Rohatgi responded to this by stating that they were not as running advertisements on newspapers were expensive. The bench also questioned if the apology was placed in a prominent place in the newspaper or if it has been placed in 'classified' section.
The court, while adjourning the case to April 30, directed the company to keep the paper cutting of the ads handy as they would like to see the actual size of the ads and not enlarged images.
Court to look into misleading ads by FMCG firms
During the hearing on April 23, the court also proceeded to make ministry of information and broadcasting and the ministry of consumer affairs a party to the hearing. The court expressed its intention to look into misleading ads made by Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)/ pharma companies. The court noted that these misleading ads affect children and the senior citizens directly.
The bench said, "Now we are looking at everything, we are looking at children, babies, women, and no one can be taken for a ride and the Union government must wake up to this." The court has also sought for an explanation from the Union government on why the Ayush ministry had instructed its departments not to implement Rule 170 of the drugs and magical remedies act.
Allopathic doctors also answerable:
The court also impleaded National Medical Council (NMC), a body that enrolls allopathic doctors, as a party to this litigation. NMC will now assist the court on "misuse of position by doctors by recommending highly expensive medicines, extraneous medicines or treatment”.
The apex court noted that while Indian Medical Association (IMA) initiated this litigation, it also needs to put its house in order. The court took note of alleged unethical practice by doctors in the country.
The court has come down hard on the two in previous hearings, refusing to accept their apologies.
Saying it didn't want to be “generous” in the case, the two-judge bench said on April 10, "We do not accept it (unconditional apology). We decline to. We consider it a wilful, deliberate disobedience of the undertaking".
The court also pulled up the Uttarakhand government, where Patanjali Ayurved is based, for not taking action against the company for violations.
It ordered all the officers who served as district Ayurvedic and Unani officers in Haridwar, the company's headquarters, since 2018 to submit actions taken by them.
The court on March 19 asked Ramdev and Balkrishna to appear personally to response to contempt proceedings for continuing to run misleading advertisements.
The court issued a contempt notice against Patanjali and Balkrishna for publishing advertisements of products in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and its Rules.
The orders were passed on a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
On April 23, Supreme Court said IMA also needs to put its house in order regarding alleged unethical acts of the IMA where medicines are prescribed which is expensive and unnecessary. There are several complaints with regard to alleged unethical conduct of IMA, says Supreme Court.
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