New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 14 reserved its order on the contempt notice issued to Patanjali Ayurved and its owners Ramdev and his aide Acharaya Balkrishna over the company’s misleading advertisements case.
As per a Bar and Bench report, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah “dispensed with the personal appearance of Ramdev and Balakrishna” after noting that an affidavit, which is required to be filed within three weeks, will specify the steps taken to pull down the existing misleading advertisements of Patanjali products. Further, the affidavit will also contain details of the measures taken to recall those products of the company whose licences have been suspended.
Senior advocate Balbir Singh informed the apex court bench that Patanjali has written to all the platforms which were still running its ads and the sale of banned products has also been stopped. Further, Singh requested the court to excuse his clients from personally appearing before the court.
“We will dispense with their presence…we will be reserving orders. File your affidavit, it will make a difference,” the bench was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench. “Public is cognisant, if they have choices they make well informed choices… Baba Ramdev has a lot of influence, use it in the right way,” the bench added.
According to a report published in The Indian Express, during the hearing, Indian Medical Association (IMA) president R.V. Asokan “unconditionally apologised” to the bench for the comments he had made against the Supreme Court in a recent interview to PTI while answering questions about Patanjali Ayurved’s misleading advertisements case.
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“You can’t sit on a couch giving an interview to the press and lampooning the court,” Justice Kohli told Asokan, the daily reported. The bench also informed IMA’s counsel that “at this stage” the apex court was “not inclined to accept the affidavit of apology” tendered by Asokan.
The case in question pertains to the IMA’s petition against Ramdev’s controversial statements about allopathy, including India’s Covid 19 vaccination drive and alleged misleading advertisements about Patanjali Ayurved products claiming to permanently cure aliments like hypertension and diabetes.
