Supreme Court Orders Patanjali to Stop Medical Ads, Warns of Contempt

Senior advocate PS Patwalia and attorney Prabhas Bajaj represented IMA, pointing out that the business has paid little attention to the court’s ruling.

The Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. company and its director, Acharya Balakrishna, were served with contempt notices by the Supreme Court on Tuesday for breaking an earlier agreement made in November. The court also ordered the company to refrain from publishing deceptive advertisements regarding the medical efficacy of its products.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which first approached the court in 2022 to pursue legal action against Patanjali for demeaning modern medicine and making false claims about curing diseases, was shown material before a bench of justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah issued the order.

“You are a person who can do anything. That’s what we get from looking at these advertisements. The fact remains that you are selling your product to people as a ‘permanent relief’. This itself is misleading and a violation of the law,” the bench remarked.

The Union government was also criticized by the court for its inability to control these kinds of ads. “Everyone in the nation is being duped. You have to make it right. You were aware that these were advertisements. These advertisements’ language is completely illegal. In 2022, this petition was submitted. You did nothing for two years,” the bench remarked.

The latest ads from IMA were released in December 2023 and January 2024. They also included a video of yoga guru Ramdev holding a press conference. The filing came one day after the court on November 21 recorded Patanjali’s pledge not to break any laws by releasing deceptive advertisements.

Furthermore, two press clippings of advertisements from January 7 that Patanjali claimed were “more effective than chemical-based synthetic medicines of allopathy” were attached to an anonymous complaint that was filed with the court on January 15. In India, allopathy is a common term used to describe modern medicine.

The judges rebuked Patanjali for taking the court lightly. “Your statement was not worth the paper (it was on). This court had bound you to the statement you had made.”

Issuing contempt notices to Patanjali and its director Balakrishna, the bench said, “The said advertisements/press conference was issued after our order was passed on November 21, 2023. Prima facie this Court is of the view that respondent (Patanjali) is in violation of the undertaking given to this Court on November 21, 2023.”

The court ordered Balakrishna to be included in the IMA petition and requested a response within three weeks explaining “why contempt proceedings against him and the company should not be initiated.”

“The respondent (Patanjali) is restrained from advertising products manufactured and marketed by it which are meant to address ailments specified as diseases/disorders in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectional Advertisements) Act, 1954,” the court further directed.

Any advertisement that purports to diagnose, treat, mitigate, cure, or prevent any lifestyle diseases, including but not limited to blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, cervical spondylitis, obesity, or heart diseases, is prohibited by Section 3 of this law. Furthermore, the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules 1945 were directly violated by Patanjali’s claim to have eradicated asthma, according to IMA’s petition.

Posting the matter on March 19, the bench held, “The officers of respondent (Patanjali) are cautioned from making any statement, adverse to any system of medicine in the media, both print and electronic, in any form as undertaken by them.”

Ramdev is a sanyasi (monk),” senior attorney Vipin Sanghi, representing Patanjali Ayurved, said when the court asked about his role in the company. He is merely a yoga instructor and has no other positions in the organization. Sanghi first claimed to be surprised to see the ads and asked for some time to react. Undoubtedly, Ramdev has persistently attacked modern medicine and has always been publicly linked to Patanjali.

The court ordered Patanjali to abide by this promise and threatened to impose a ₹1 crore price on each of the company’s products if it persisted in breaking the law. Senior attorney PS Patwalia, who was representing IMA alongside attorney Prabhas Bajaj, noted that the business had paid little attention to the court’s ruling. Additionally, IMA questioned the Center’s inaction in failing to take any action.

“You have the courage and the guts to come out with this advertisement. You are tempting the court. We have to now target this entity and take action against the two persons in this advertisement,” the bench told Sanghi.

The court saw an affidavit filed by the Ayush ministry on February 5, which failed to show any action taken against Patanjali.