Misleading advts | Don’t close your eyes to Patanjali’s wrongdoings, SC tells Centre
Accusing Patanjali of misleading people, the apex court said: "This is very unfortunate. The government will have to take some immediate action."
“The government is sitting with its eyes closed,” the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday as it came down heavily on the Centre for not acting against “misleading and false” claims by Patanjali Ayurved.
The apex court said the entire country was being misled through such advertisements. "This is very unfortunate. The government will have to take some immediate action," the bench said.
Misleading ads
The bench directed the company, which is co-owned by yoga guru Ramdev, to stop all electronic and print advertisements of its medicines that give misleading information with immediate effect.
The Supreme Court had in November last year cautioned Patanjali Ayurved against making "false" and "misleading" claims in advertisements about its medicines.
Ramana’s comment
"What happened to this guru Swami Ramdev Baba?... We respect him as he popularised yoga. We all go for this. But he should not criticise the other system. You see the type of advertisements accusing all the doctors as if they are killers or something. Huge advertisements (have been given)," the bench headed by then chief justice NV Ramana, since retired, had said.
The top court had asked the counsel appearing for the Centre to find a remedy to the issue of misleading medical advertisements.
IMA’s complaint
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had referred to several advertisements which allegedly projected the allopathy and the doctors in poor light.
The IMA said that disparaging statements have also been made by firms engaged in the production of ayurvedic medicines to mislead the general public.
These commercials say that the medical practitioners themselves are dying despite taking modern medicines, the counsel for the IMA had said.