SC asks Ramdev, Balakrishna to appear before court in Patanjali ‘misleading ads’ case

Weeks after imposing a temporary ban on Patanjali Ayurved advertisements, the Supreme Court has summoned the FCMG company’s owner Baba Ramdev and chairman Acharya Balakrishna to appear before the court in person in the matter, Bar and Bench reported.  

This comes after they failed to reply to the show cause notice issued in the contempt proceedings against Patanjali for its “misleading ads”.   

Issuing the order, the bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said Ramdev and Balkrishna are accused of violating Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. 

On Patanjali counsel Mukul Rohtagi’s opposition, the bench said, “How can you be in the teeth of our orders? You are appearing. We will see on the next date. Enough."

In the previous hearing in the plea filed by the Indian Medical Association against Patanjali, the top court had come down heavily on the company for breaching its previous orders and continuing to propagate misleading claims. 

The court had also criticised the Modi government over its inaction in the matter, saying that the “entire country is taken for a ride. You wait for two years when the Acts says this [misleading advertisements] is prohibited”.

Newslaundry had earlier reported that Ramdev deceptively sold Coronil as cure for Covid during the pandemic. Read here. The self-styled yoga guru, who has established a gigantic retail empire, has been riding on the shoulders of Big Media. Read about it here.