Patanjali MD tenders apology over ads after Supreme Court rap

Patanjali MD Acharya Balkrishna offered an unconditional apology for his company’s misleading claims about the miraculous abilities of its formulations.

Patanjali Ayurved Limited managing director Acharya Balkrishna offered an unconditional apology for his company’s misleading claims about the miraculous abilities of its formulations that also cast aspersions on the effectiveness of modern medicine.

A hoarding with an image of Baba Ramdev inside a Patanjali store in Ahmedabad. (Reuters)

His apology came in an affidavit filed a day after he was summoned to appear in person before the top court along with Baba Ramdev on April 2.

In a short affidavit, Balkrishna said that he regrets the company’s advertisement containing the “offending sentences”.

The company’s claims about curing a range of illnesses such as blood pressure, diabetes , asthma, and other ailments is not only a violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 but also contempt of Court because, on November 21, 2023 the top court of the land restrained Patanjali from issuing such advertisements and recorded an undertaking given by the company to this effect.

Balakrishna claimed in his affidavit that the advertisement included these claims “inadvertently”.

“The deponent regrets that the advertisement in question, which was meant to contain only general statements, inadvertently included the offending sentences...The deponent on behalf of respondent (Patanjali Ayurved) submits an unqualified apology before this Court for the breach of the statement recorded in the order of November 21, 2023. The deponent will ensure such advertisements are not issued in future.”

He further claimed that the department that issued the advertisement did not know of the court order.

But his affidavit also seemed to insist that the company was in the right. Terming the 1954 law “archaic”, he said: “The respondent (Patanjali) now possesses evidence-based scientific data with clinical research conducted in Ayurveda, which would demonstrate the advances made through scientific research in the context of diseases mentioned in the Schedule to the 1954 Act.” This schedule provides for a list of diseases on which advertisement claiming cure is prohibited.

The nature of this evidence at the company’s disposal is unclear.

He further said, “The Schedule to the 1954 Act read with Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Rules, 1955 is in an archaic state and the last changes were introduced in 1996 when scientific evidence in Ayurveda research was lacking.”

A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah had come down heavily on Balkrishna for violating the undertaking given to Court and for not filing an affidavit within the two weeks period granted on February 27. The Court added Balkrishna as a party to the proceeding last month seeking his response for alleged contempt of Court. On Tuesday, Baba Ramdev was also added as a party and asked to appear personally before the Court.

The order, uploaded on Wednesday said, “Having gone through the advertisements issued by the respondent (Patanjali) in the teeth of the undertaking given to this Court on November 21 and on noticing that the said advertisements reflect an endorsement thereof by Baba Ramdev, it is deemed appropriate to issue notice to show cause as to why the contempt proceedings be not initiated against him as this Court is prima facie of the opinion that he too has violated the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 read with Rule 6 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Rules, 1955.”

The Court order was passed in a petition filed by Indian Medical Association (IMA) which sought to restrain Patanjali from making false and misleading claims for curing diseases and showing modern medicine in bad light.

The Union government is also named as a party in the petition. The Court asked Centre to file a response indicating what action has been initiated against Patanjali for violating the Act. In its response filed on Monday, the Centre said the state licensing authority (SLA) of Uttarakhand is supposed to act on misleading advertisements by Patanjali. On May 22, 2023, the Centre asked SLA to take action under the law and ensure removal of ads by Patanjali. After Court’s rebuke, on March 8 this year, the state unit was asked to give an action taken report.