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"Indian public is aware of medicines of Ayurveda as much as the treatment under Allopathy.. they(patanjali) are not doing something new..nothing has been done by the state on the ground..", the bench said today
Supreme Court of India today blasted the official authorities of the State of Uttarakhand for not acting over the misleading advertisements being posted by Patanjali since 2018.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah ahs accordingly directed all officials who held position from 2018 will file replies before the court on what they did in the issue.
These affidavits are to be filed in two weeks, the court has said.
The bench also came down heavily on the deponent officer appearing before it. On being informed that the errant officer took up the post in June 2023, the court asked, "Ek saal hone wala hai aapne kya kiya warn karne ke alawa..?".
Court also refused to accept the unconditional apology submitted by Patanjali's Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna. "We DO NOT ACCEPT this Affidavit, we do not condone it, we decline to accept your apology..", it said.
Earlier court had came down heavily on Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna for not taking the contempt notices issued to them seriously.
"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..", the bench had said 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.
Earlier, 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.
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
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