New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s public apology in newspapers should be of the same full-page advertisements as Patanjali Ayurved’s products.
During a hearing over misleading advertisements on Tuesday, when Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali, said the apology has been published in 67 newspapers, the Supreme Court asked, “Is the apology of the same size as your advertisements?”
The Supreme Court last week directed Patanjali to tender a public apology within a week. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah hearing the plea asked Ramdev why the apology was filed after one week, just ahead of SC hearing. Patanjali assured the court that it would publish a bigger apology.
The court adjourned the matter for a week and ordered Patanjali to collate the advertisements and submit them before the bench. “Do not enlarge them and supply them to us. We want to see the actual size… we want to see that when you issue an ad it does not mean we have to see it by a microscope. It is not meant to be on papers but also read,” the court said as reported by India Today.
Patanjali Ayurved’s apology in national dailies, hours before the court hearing, read, “We tender our heartfelt apology for the mistakes committed in publishing ads and holding press conferences despite the assurances by our counsel. We are committed not to repeat this mistake.”
The court informed that it had received an application seeking a ₹1000 crore fine against the Indian Medical Association (IMA) for its case against Patanjali and asked, “Is it a proxy plea?”. Rohatgi said his clients had nothing to do with it, NDTV reported.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday further noted that other FMCGs are also publishing misleading advertisements which in particular, is affecting the health of babies, school-going children and senior citizens. The court said the Union Government should wake up to this.
The court said it is also asking questions to Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Indian Medical Association was also told by the court, “Your doctors are also endorsing medicines in the allopathic field. If that is happening, why should we not turn the beam at you,” Times of India reported.