Supreme Court Issues Contempt Notice To Patanjali, Halts Misleading Advertisements

The Supreme Court restrained Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. on Tuesday from advertising medicinal products manufactured and marketed by it that aim to address diseases or ailments specified in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.

This act prohibits misleading advertisements for drugs and also the advertisement of magic remedies for the treatment of certain diseases and disorders, like obesity, asthma, diabetes and cancer.

The top court served a contempt notice to Patanjali and Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna for publicly disobeying its orders as the company had continued to run its false ads even after giving an undertaking to it.

During the last hearing, Patanjali had given an undertaking to the court, saying that it would not make any casual statements before the media regarding the medicinal efficacy of Ayurveda against any system of medicine.

The court has cautioned Patanjali against making media statements against any other system of medicine.

This is a very serious issue and Patanjali is taking the entire country for a ride, it said.

The court directed the Union government to furnish an affidavit apprising it of the steps it has taken to tackle the issue of misleading advertisements.

The next hearing for this case is scheduled after three weeks, when Patanjali will have to explain its conduct to the court.

This lawsuit, filed by the Indian Medical Association, pertains to the issue of deceptive advertising by certain corporations.

During the last hearing, the top court issued a stern warning to Ramdev and his multinational conglomerate for downplaying the effects of modern medicine.

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 a particular disease.

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.