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Synopsis

The Supreme Court's division bench came down heavily on Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna for not taking the contempt notices issued to them seriously.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah called them out for grossly violating the undertaking given to the highest court of the land over their advertisement.

"There is a gross violation of the undertaking given to the highest court of the land..you should have made sure that the chain of command should go to the last man..we also can say that we are sorry to accept your apology that your media department is an island..", said the bench referring to the affidavit filed by Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna saying that the ads were approved by the media department and they were unaware of it.

"What engages us is what you did after November, after you gave us an undertaking..you cannot feign ignorance..you have made a statement in your so called 'unqualified apology' is that the Act itself is archaich..it is the law of the land..it governs the field, how can you violate it..all your ads are in violation of the Act..this adds insult to injury..", the bench added.

The bench also considered the Union of India's affidavit and asked it to file the response submitted by the state's licensing authority to its show cause notice.

Recently, Patanjali Ayurveda had filed an unqualified apology before the Supreme Court of India for issuing misleading advertisements.

Submitting that it will ensure that such advertisements are not issued in the future, the affidavit filed through Patanjali's managing Director Acharya Balkrishna adds, "the Deponent begs to submit that its intention is only to exhort the citizens of this country to lead a healthier life by consuming products of the Respondent No. 5 including products for lifestyle ailments through the use of age old literature and materials supplementing and backed by ayurvedic research".

 

This affidavit was filed in light of the Supreme Court's recent order whereby it directed Baba Ramdev and Patanjali's Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna to personally appear before it.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah had directed so after Ramdev and Balakrishna did not file their response to the show cause notice issued by Court for going back on their word to not make misleading claims in advertisements for its medicines.

On February 27, Court had imposed a ban of advertisements of medicines Ramdev Baba's Patanjali noting that it has been taking the country for a ride by making misleading claims.

The bench had further recorded that the medicines claim to cure certain diseases without any empirical evidence for the same.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) had filed the instant plea alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev Baba and his company against the COVID-19 vaccination and modern medicine.

Court had in November last year also directed Patanjali not to publish false advertisements in the future.

Patanjali had then undertaken not to publish advertisements making false claims about its products and targeting modern medicines and vaccinations, but it continued to do so, the court was told today.

Case Title: Indian Medical Association & Anr vs. Union of India and Ors