New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's co-founder Ramdev and managing director Acharya Balkrishna to personally appear before it to explain their failure to file reply to the contempt notice issued against them and the company over misleading advertisements on medicinal cures. "How can you be in teeth of our orders?... We had our hands tied earlier but not now (with initiation of contempt proceedings). As an officer of the court, you (Rohatgi) should know your position," a bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Patanjali Ayurved, the parent company of Patanjali Foods.

 

The judges also remarked that Ramdev and Balkrishna were prima facie in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. Rohatgi strongly opposed the directions, asking "how does Ramdev come into the picture?... violation of the law is not a contempt of court and what was being relied on in open court has to be recorded in the order.”

 

However, the bench didn’t relent and passed the order for personal appearance of Ramdev. It also asked the duo to file their replies to the contempt notice issued last month. On February 27, the SC had expressed displeasure over Patanjali Ayurved continuing to publish false and misleading advertisements on medicinal cures despite giving an undertaking that it wouldn’t do so. It had issued notices to the company and Balkrishna asking them as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

 

The apex court had also warned the company that it should not make any statement against any system of medicine in the media, both print and electronic and had barred Patanjali Ayurved from advertising or marketing its products which it claimed to treat ailments and disorders specified in Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. The judges had also flayed the Centre (the AYUSH ministry) for failing to take appropriate action against Patanjali Ayurved under the drugs and magic remedies law in respect of such advertisements.

 

The directions were issued on a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) seeking action against Ramdev for criticising allopathic medicines. It also directed the government to take stern action against such ads as they raised concerns over the continuous and unabated spread of misinformation regarding allopathy and the modern system of medicine.

 

In November 2023, the Supreme Court had asked Patanjali Ayurved to stop misleading claims and advertisements against the modern system of medicine and cautioned it that “the court will take any such infraction very seriously, and consider imposing costs to the extent of Rs one crore on every product regarding which a false claim is made that it can cure a particular disease”.

 

However, the very next day, Ramdev and Balkrishna had allegedly held a press conference and made misleading claims again that Patanjali had permanent cures for diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, and glaucoma, among others.