The Supreme Court on Tuesday exempted yoga guru Ramdev and his associate Acharya Balkrishna from personal appearance for the next hearing in the case related to misleading advertisements by Patanjali Ayurveda.
The bench, led by Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, also recognised the recent public apology issued by the duo in newspapers on April 24 for the misleading ads.
Additionally, the top court directed the counsel of Patanjali founders Ramdev and Balkrishna to file the original page of each newspaper on record in which the public apology was issued.
The court also expressed dissatisfaction with the explanation given by the Uttarakhand State Licencing Authority for its lack of action in the case. It observed that the authority only acted in accordance with the law after the apex court’s order on April 10.
“Be honest to the court if you want sympathy and compassion,” the bench stated.
The top court stated that its primary concern is whether the licensing body took action in accordance with the law in the matter. The bench has scheduled the matter for hearing on May 14.
Public Apology Issued
The public apology by Ramdev and Balkrishna came after the Supreme Court questioned whether its size would match that of their advertisements during a previous hearing.
“In wake of an on going matter before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, we in our individual capacity as well as on behalf of the Company, unconditionally apologise for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the public apology had stated.
On Monday, the Uttarakhand government informed the top court that it has suspended manufacturing licences of 14 products of Patanjali Ayurved and Divya Pharmacy with ‘immediate effect’. The action came after the state authority was criticised earlier for not taking action against Patanjali Ayurved for misleading advertisements.
Further, Patanjali Foods, formerly Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, received a show cause notice from the GST intelligence department regarding the recovery of input tax credit worth Rs 27.46 crore.
The notice was issued by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Chandigarh Zonal Unit, as disclosed in a regulatory filing by the company on April 26.
On February 27, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to Ramdev and Balkrishna for distributing misleading health cure advertisements and prohibited Patanjali from promoting products with unproven claims of curing diseases like heart conditions and asthma.
(With inputs from agencies)
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