Supreme Court Warns Baba Ramdev, Patanjali Ayurved of Rs 1 Cr Fine for Misleading Ads

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned Baba Ramdev and his Patanjali Ayurved to impose an exemplary fine of Rs 1 crore for every “misleading” advertisement put up by the company that claimed permanent cure by its various medicines.

A bench of Justices Ahsannuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra, orally warned: “All false and misleading advertisements by Patanjali Ayurved have to stop immediately. This court will take any such infraction very seriously.”

The bench added: “The court will consider imposing an exemplary cost to the extent of Rs 1 crore on every such product regarding which such a misleading claim is made.”

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by the IMA in 2022 in which it had assailed the publicity stunt by Patanjali Ayurved claiming permanent relief for various ailments through its product and at the same time denigrating allopathy medicines.

The misleading claims of herbal cures for various ailments including for Covid-related problems were in violation of the Drugs and Other Magic Remedies Act, 1954, the IMA had said.

In August last year, a bench headed by then Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana had observed that while Ramdev had certainly popularised the concept of yoga, yet at the same time, he cannot criticise other systems of medicine.

The IMA in its petition had accused Ramdev of carrying out a systematic campaign to disparage the allopathy system as being unviable.