Patanjali Misleading Ads Case: Supreme Court Calls Out Uttarakhand Licensing Authority

The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed reservations regarding the fresh apology affidavits tendered by Patanjali Ayurved's Baba Ramdev and Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna, citing the entire history of the case. The case order will be pronounced on April 16.

In addition, the top court noted that the duo had attempted to avoid personal appearance by claiming overseas travel and noted discrepancies in their submission regarding ticket receipt.

However, the primary target for the court today was the state licensing authority, and their inaction in dealing with the entire misleading ads fiasco.

The court strongly criticised the Uttarakhand state licensing authority for its inertia over the past five years and directed former officials to account for their inaction within two weeks. Moreover, state AYUSH officers have also been mandated to furnish explanations within two weeks.

"They've (Patanjali) violated undertakings made to the court, they've violated their affidavits. You are the execution authority. What did you do? Sit and wiggle your thumbs? Or did you wait for us to push you?" the court questioned.

The court stated that it was appalled to note that except for pushing files, the state licensing authority has done nothing.

Further, it said that a warning was issued three times to Patanjali for airing advertisements which are in direct contravention of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.

The court asked the authority how a warning could be issued in such a case when there was a clear defiance of a statute.

The court also expressed deep concern for the public at large and said that the plight of ordinary people cannot be substituted with mere warnings.

The court was hearing a lawsuit filed by the Indian Medical Association, who argued that Ramdev was running an adversarial campaign against the Covid-19 vaccine and contemporary medical practices.

The case began in November last year, when the apex court issued a stern warning to Ramdev and his multinational conglomerate for downplaying the effects of modern medicine.

Some of Patanjali's commercials tout how its medicines can cure a number of illnesses, while simultaneously disparaging allopathic and modern medicine.

The court had said that it would issue a hefty penalty for all those misleading advertisements that promise to cure diseases such as asthma, obesity, and the like.

At the time, Patanjali told the court that it would make sure that going forward, no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy against any system of medicine would be released to the media in any form.

However, a day after the court's stern remarks, Patanjali came out with a media statement saying that it was not making any "false advertisements or propaganda" regarding its products and that it would not object if the top court were to impose a fine or "even give us a death sentence" if found making misleading claims.

This prompted the apex court to serve a contempt notice to Patanjali and its Managing Director, Acharya Balkrishna for publicly disobeying its orders, as the company had continued to run its false ads even after giving an undertaking.

When the firm failed to respond to the court's notice, the court issued a contempt notice to Ramdev as well and ordered his personal presence in court.

After facing severe criticism from the court for failing to obey the court's directives, Patanjali filed an apology last month, stating that its intention was only to exhort the citizens of this country to lead a healthier life by using its products, which have been formulated through the use of age-old literature and materials supplemented and backed by Ayurvedic research.

However, during the last hearing which took place on April 2, the court said that it was unhappy with its apology, highlighting that all of Patanjali's advertisements were directly confronting the court and that they were expected to make sure that their commitment would be upheld both in its exact wording and in its intent.

Since then, another unconditional apology has been tendered by Ramdev and Balkrishna and they have assured the court that, moving forward, no offending advertisements will be aired.