Supreme Court asks Baba Ramdev to appear in person in Patanjali's 'misleading' ad case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Yoga guru Baba Ramdev to appear in person over Patanjali Ayurved's "misleading ads" in two-weeks' time. Patanjali Ayurved's Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna has also been asked to appear.

On February 27, the Supreme Court restrained Patanjali Ayurved from publishing advertisements of medicines produced by it for ailments like blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and obesity, amongst others. It issued a contempt notice against Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna.

The contempt notice followed a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against Patanjali Ayurved's alleged dissemination of misleading advertisements.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Amanullah took note of the fact that a response was not filed in the case despite previous directions.

The court not only asked Baba Ramdev to appear before it in person, but also issued a notice asking why he should not be prosecuted for contempt of court.

"It is deemed appropriate to issue show cause notice as to why the contempt of proceedings should not be issued against him in view of the fact that this court is prima facie of the opinion that he has also violated the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act," Justice Kohli said.

During the hearing, the court asked Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Baba Ramdev, why they had not filed their response to the contempt notice yet.

"Now we will ask your client to appear in court. Now we will make Baba Ramdev also a party. Both will be asked to appear in court," the bench said.

While rejecting Rohatgi's request to not make Baba Ramdev a party in the case, the court said, "He was in every advertisement, and he did a press conference also."

The court also said that it was not going to postpone the hearing of the case.

The bench reprimanded the Union Ayush Ministry for filing a response just a day earlier.

To this, the Centre told the court that it needed more time to file a proper response. The Supreme Court then asked the Centre to file a fresh affidavit.

In its earlier affidavit, the Centre indicated that 35,556 cases of misleading advertisement have been filed against various companies.

It told the Supreme Court that on receipt of the Complaint, the Ayush Ministry forwards it to concerned authorities at the state level for necessary action.

"And then the Ministry of Ayush took cognizance of the representations received and issued a notice dated June 23, 2020 to Patanjali Ayurved. with respect to the claim for developing a drug ie. CORONIL, as a cure for Covid-19," the affidavit stated.