Patanjali misleading ads case: Uttarakhand state licensing authority delayed action for two years against company
The SLA said that since the matter was with the Supreme Court, any action against Patanjali will be a result of the judgement passed by the Court. However, the SC said that it had not given any instruction to wait for judgement to take action.
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The Uttarakhand state licensing authority has delayed action for more than two years abasing complaints about Patanjali’s misleading ads.
The SLA said that since the matter was with the Supreme Court, any action against Patanjali will be a result of the judgement passed by the Court. However, the SC said that it had not given any instruction to wait for judgement to take action.
The Ayush ministry filed an affidavit in the court which showed that the SLA had taken no action for two years other than giving warnings that asked the company to stop showcasing its advertisements. However, Patanjali continued to display ads even after the warnings for two years.
“A perusal of the letter dated 08th March, 2024 addressed by the Union of India to the State Licencing Authority calling upon it to provide the detailed action taken by it within two days from the date of issuance of the letter itself shows that the State Licensing Authority has failed to discharge its duties, as contemplated under the Act,” the court said.
In February, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved and managing director Acharya Balakrishnan had been held in contempt by the Supreme Court. The SC issued them the notice for violating its previously passed order against misleading advertising that talks about being able to cure serious diseases or makes claims against allopathy, etc, as reported by Moneycontrol.
Apart from issuing notice, the SC had temporarily restricted Patanjali Ayurved from advertising anything that claims to cure diseases like illnesses such as blood pressure, diabetes, fevers, epilepsy and lupus, specified in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954.
In April 2024, Baba Ramdev, yoga guru and founder of Patanjali Ayurved, along with Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna, appeared in the Supreme Court. The SC came down heavily on Patanjali for defying its orders and observed that the medical advertisements issued by the Ramdev-led company are in the "teeth of law".
'Be ready for action', the Supreme Court told Ramdev, stating that the court would need to take contempt cases to the logical conclusion.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also refused to accept the apology tendered by Patanjali in March. "We are not happy with your apology," the court said, giving the company one last opportunity to file a 'better' response in its contempt proceedings. The case will be next heard on April 10.
