The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved, owned by Yoga guru Ramdev and its Managing Director (MD) Acharya Balkrishna for violating its order by publishing misleading advertisements for its products regarding medicinal cures.
The Supreme Court had already barred Pantajali from promoting its therapeutic medicines till further order.
The Supreme Court called the Patanjali conglomerate into question while hearing a petition from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) regarding’misinformation against Allopathy’.
Justice Amanullah, hearing the matter, said, “Misleading advertisements cannot be tolerated at all.”
Senior counsel PS Patwalia, representing the IMA, underlined Patanjali’s claim that yoga could ‘totally heal’ diabetes and asthma.
Last November, a bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra asked the Centre to hold consultations and make recommendations on how to deal with misleading advertisements after hearing a petition filed by the IMA, which claimed that the group organised a smear campaign against the Covid-19 vaccine.
Ramdev, who was facing several criminal cases filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in response to his controversial remarks about the use of allopathic pharmaceuticals during the Covid-19 outbreak, also approached the Supreme Court, which issued a notice to the Centre and the Association on October 9 regarding his request to dismiss the charges.
Ramdev has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 188, 269, and 504.
According to the IMA’s complaint, Ramdev has been spreading false information on social media about pharmaceuticals used by the medical community. The court has set its next hearing for 15 March.
