The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked self-styled yoga guru Baba Ramdev to personally appear in a contempt case initiated against Patanjali Ayurved for publishing misleading advertisements in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 despite an undertaking given to the court in November last year.
A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah issued show cause notice to Baba Ramdev to file his response against initiating contempt proceedings against him.
The Bench further directed Acharya Balkrishna, the Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved, to be present in the courtroom along with Baba Ramdev for the next hearing on April 2.
The court ordered the personal presence of Balkrishna after learning that he did not file a response to the show cause notice issued to him on February 27, the previous date of hearing. The Bench brushed aside the explanations offered by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali, for not filing a reply.
The Bench indicated that Baba Ramdev should be heard in the case as he had endorsed the Patanjali advertisements prohibited by the court on November 21, 2023.
The Bench had issued show cause notice to Patanjali and Balakrishna on February 27 for violating an assurance given to the Supreme Court on November 21, 2023 that they would refrain from advertising or branding its products as “permanent relief” for diseases such as obesity, blood pressure, asthma, etc, in violation of the 1954 Act.
On November 21, the court had directed the company to not make any “casual statements” to the print or electronic media about the efficacy of their medicinal products or indulge in any disparaging statements about other disciplines of medicine such as allopathy.
However, a press conference was held by Baba Ramdev, on November 22, the very next day of the Supreme Court order.
“This court is prima facie of the opinion that he has also violated the provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954,” the court observed.
In the February hearing, the petitioner, Indian Medical Association, had described Baba Ramdev’s association with Patanjali as “everything and nothing at the same time”.
“In November, we had specifically said there should be no violation of any law. That means that there should be nothing misleading, especially advertisements of drugs manufactured and marketed by you. We told you to not make any casual statements… But you are still advertising your products as a ‘permanent relief’. There was a ban on you advertising your products as a permanent relief for ailments under the 1954 Act,” Justice Kohli had told Patanjali’s lawyers at the time.
