NEW DELHI: No action was taken, and only letters and notices were served to yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved by the Uttarakhand authorities in the last two years for repeated violations of an Act that deals with misleading advertisements of Ayush products.
A warning was issued but only after the severe drubbing by the Supreme Court on February 27 when it said that the “entire country was taken for a ride” and had asked Ramdev and managing director Acharya Balkrishna to appear personally before the court.
This was revealed in an affidavit filed on March 19 to the Supreme Court by the Union Ayush Ministry.
The affidavit clearly showed that no action was taken despite several Supreme Court orders, RTIs, and even directives from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“The ministry’s response to the apex court clearly shows that the Uttarakhand authorities failed to prosecute Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved in the last two years,” said RTI activist Dr. K V Babu, who has been relentlessly pursuing the matter and has filed several RTIs with the centre as well as the state for action against Ramdev’s Patanjali for violating the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954.
He said it was only after the apex court's stern warning that Balkrishna gave an unconditional apology to the SC and promised to “ensure that such ads are not issued in the future” on March 21.
"This situation would not have happened had both the centre and the state had taken a firm stand and had prosecuted Patanjali Ayurved in these two years."
Attaching a March 12 letter in the affidavit on the action taken report concerning the misleading advertisement of Ayush product manufactured by Divya Pharmacy, the ministry said they had directed the Ayurveda and Unani Services, Licensing Authority, Uttarakhand, to inform them of the action taken against the company.
The letter said, “Before receiving directions from the Ministry of Ayush, various letters were issued to the relevant drugs inspectors/district Ayurvedic and Unani officers in Hardiwar to take action against the violation of the Dtiuigs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954 by the company.”
The ministry further said notices were issued regarding the non-compliance of Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
However, in response, Patanjali Ayurved told the authorities that no action could be taken against them due to the sub-judice nature related to Rule 170, which prevents them from being penalised.
The Kerala-based Babu said that he had earlier flagged to the Ayush ministry and Uttarakhand authorities that Rule 170 is being wrongly interpreted and action can be taken against Patanjali under the Magic Remedies Act since complaints were under this Act only.
“But nothing was done, and the state licensing authorities and Patanjali Ayurved have been taking this pretext and dragging the issue out for the past two years. They are just misinterpreting the Act. The subjudice matter is being quoted just to exonerate the violators,” said Babu, who, after failing to get any redressal from the authorities, wrote to the PMO, following which the PMO directed Ayush ministry for appropriate action. However, still, nothing was done.
“The affidavit says that the state licensing authority had written letters to drug inspectors but is silent on what action was taken by them against Patanjali Ayurved,” he said, adding that "the state authorities are sitting over the case even though the SLA is not a party in the Supreme Court case."
The ministry letter further said that as the apex court on February 27 had passed interim orders to immediately stop the advertisements of the relevant medicines under the DMR Act by Divya Pharmacy, Haridwar, the concerned firm has been issued a warning.
The Supreme Court has pulled up Ramdev's Patanjali several times for its misleading advertisements.
On February 27, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice against Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna for publishing advertisements of products violating the DMR (OA) Act, 1954, despite an undertaking given to the court in November last year.
The apex court said that the "entire country was being taken for a ride" and had asked Ramdev and managing director Acharya Balkrishna to personally appear before the court on April 2 to clarify their failure to respond to the contempt notice issued against them and the company regarding misleading advertisements about medicinal cures of their Ayush products.
In November 2023, the apex court warned Patanjali that it would be fined Rs 1 crore if a false claim is made that its products can "cure" certain diseases. Despite the apex court’s rap, Patanjali published misleading ads in two broadly circulated regional newspapers on December 4 last year.
The DMR (OA) 1954 prohibits the advertisement of certain drugs to treat certain diseases and disorders. It states that “no person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement referring to any drug in terms which suggest or are calculated to lead to the use of that drug for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any diseases, disorder or condition.”
