Supreme Court reprimands Patanjali on misleading advertisement

The bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra heard the case. Justice Amanullah said- Patanjali Ayurveda will have to immediately stop all advertisements containing false and misleading claims. The court will take any such violation very seriously and can impose a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for each false claim of a product.

Court wants to find real solution
After this, the court directed that Patanjali Ayurveda will not publish any such advertisement in future and will also ensure that such casual statements are not made by it in the press. The bench also said that it does not want to turn the issue into a debate of 'Allopathy vs Ayurveda' but wants to find a real solution to the problem of misleading medical advertisements.

Next hearing will be on 5 February 2024
The bench told Additional Solicitor General of India KM Nataraj that the central government will have to find a practical solution to deal with the problem. The court has asked the government to come to the court after consultation. The next hearing on this matter will be on 5 February 2024.

The court had reprimanded last year also
Last year too, while issuing notice on the petition of the Indian Medical Association, the court had reprimanded Baba Ramdev for giving statements against modern medical systems like allopathy.

The then Chief Justice of India NV Ramanna had then said 'Baba Ramdev can popularize his medical system, but why should he criticize other systems. We all respect him, he popularized yoga but he should not criticize other systems.

Patanjali was surrounded by claims of making Covid medicine
Ramdev Baba had claimed that Corona can be treated with his products Coronil and Swasari. After this claim, the company was reprimanded by the Ministry of AYUSH and asked to immediately stop its promotion.

• In 2015, the company did not obtain a license from the Food Safety and Regularity Authority of India (FSSAI) before launching instant atta noodles. After this, Patanjali had to face legal notice for breaking food safety rules.
• In 2015, the Canteen Stores Department had declared Patanjali's Amla juice unfit for drinking. After this, CSD had removed Amla juice from all its stores. In 2015 itself, people in Haridwar had complained about finding fungus and impurities in Patanjali Ghee.
• In 2018 also, FSSAI had reprimanded Patanjali for writing the manufacturing date of one month ahead on the medicinal product Giloy Ghanvati.
• Apart from Corona, Ramdev Baba has been in controversies several times over claims of curing cancer, AIDS and homosexuality with Yoga and Patanjali's products.