Patanjali ads case | 'We don’t want to be generous’: SC rejects Ramdev's apology

The Supreme Court has refused to accept the affidavits filed by yoga guru Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna, tendering unconditional apology in the misleading advertisements case.

The apology came on Tuesday (April 9), for the second time, after Balkrishna offered one to the apex court on March 20.

What court said

“We don’t want to be so generous in this case,” a Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said during the hearing on Wednesday (April 10).

“The apology is on paper. Their back is against the wall. We decline to accept this, we consider it a deliberate violation of undertaking. Be ready for something next to rejection of affidavit,” said the court.

The bench told Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, Patanjali's lawyer, that the affidavit is merely “on paper” and warned that the proposed contemnors should be ready to face penal action for violation of the undertaking, as per a LiveLaw report.

When Rohatgi said, “People make mistakes”, Justice Kohli retorted, “Then they suffer. We don't want to be so generous in this case.” Justice Kohli remarked, “Why should we not treat your apology with the same disdain as shown to court undertaking? We are not convinced. Now going to turn down this apology.”

Towards the end of the hearing, Rohatgi said that the contemnors are prepared to issue a public apology. But the court did not grant indulgence, said the LiveLaw report.

Bid to evade personal appearance

In another development, the apex court commented that the Patanjali MD and Baba Ramdev tried to evade personal appearance before it by making false claims of travel abroad.

After show-cause notices were issued, they attempted to “wriggle out of their personal presence" by moving applications seeking exemption on the ground that they were travelling abroad. To demonstrate the said fact, affidavits were filed by them, referring to certain flight tickets, which are produced as annexures. The court observed that though the applications were filed on March 30, the flight tickets produced as annexures, “strangely enough”, were dated March 31.

The concerned lawyer was confronted with this fact during the earlier hearing. In the latest affidavits, Balkrishna and Ramdev admitted that the tickets were issued on a day after the affidavits were sworn and explained that at the time of filing of the affidavit, the photocopies of the tickets were annexed, said the report

“Fact remains that the date when the affidavits were sworn (March 30), there was no such ticket in existence. Therefore, the assumption is that the respondents were trying to wriggle out of their personal appearance before the Court, which is most unacceptable,” the court stated in the order.

Licensing authority rapped

The apex court also came down heavily on the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority for not taking action against Patanjali Ayurved and its subsidiary Divya Pharmacy.

The bench asked why it should not think that the authorities were “hand in glove” with Patanjali/Divya Pharmacy. In its order, the court said that it was “appalled” to note that apart from “pushing the file”, the State Licensing Authorities did nothing and were merely trying to “pass on the buck” to “somehow delay the matter”.

The State Licensing Authority is “equally complicit” due to its inaction against Divya Pharmacy despite having information about their advertisements violating the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, the court said. Saying that it was refraining from issuing contempt notices to other officers, the court directed that all officers holding the post of joint director of the State Licensing Authority, Haridwar, from 2018 till date shall also file affidavits explaining inaction on their part.

The hearing in the matter is underway.

The case pertains to advertisements issued by Patanjali Ayurved making tall claims about the medicinal efficacy of its products.

Patanjali’s apology

In two separate affidavits filed in the court, Ramdev and Balkrishna have tendered an “unconditional and unqualified apology” for the “breach of the statement” recorded in the order delivered by the apex court on November 21 last year.

In that order, the top court had noted that the counsel representing Patanjali Ayurved had assured it that “henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form”.

Miffed court

The top court had said Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is “bound down to such assurance”.

The non-observance of the specific assurance and the subsequent media statements irked the apex court, which later issued a show-cause notice to them to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

(With agency inputs)