Supreme Court has strongly reprimanded Patanjali Ayurveda in advertising matters. The court made many strict comments and also warned of imposing heavy fines.
Indian Medical Association had filed a petition in the Supreme Court calling Patanjali’s advertisements misleading. During the hearing on this, the court expressed its views.
The bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra has asked the company to avoid making false claims and misleading advertisements.
What did the court say?
The Supreme Court in its instructions has asked Patanjali to avoid publication and broadcast of misleading claims in any way. The court also asked to ensure that no casual statement is made by the company in the press.
The court said, “Patanjali Ayurveda must immediately stop all its false and misleading advertisements. The court will view any such violation very seriously and will also consider imposing a penalty of up to Rs 1 crore per advertisement if the advertisement falsely claims to “cure” a particular disease.”
The court said during the hearing that we do not want to turn this into a debate of Allopathy vs Ayurveda, but the problem of misleading advertisements related to medical treatment has to be found.
Describing this problem as serious, the bench has told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj that the Central Government will have to find a solution to deal with the problem. The government has been asked to present suitable recommendations after deliberations. The next hearing on this matter will now be held on 5 February 2024.
Last year Baba Ramdev had given statements against the modern medicine system. While issuing notice on IMA’s petition, the court had asked them to avoid such statements.
