Can Red Ant Chutney Cure COVID? Orissa HC Says It ‘Lacks Expertise’ To Judge

Cuttack: A Baripada-based engineer and researcher had filed a petition in Orissa High Court after his proposal to use red ant chutney or soup for the benefit of COVID-19 patients was rejected by two Central bodies.

However, the HC has declined to intervene in the petition, stating that it didn’t possess the requisite expertise to judge the decision of the expert bodies.

Notably, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) had rejected the proposal submitted by Nayadhar Padhial,

In its rejection letter to Padhial on January 21, the CSIR had stated that it does not have the required expertise in the domain of entomophagy (eating of insects).

The CCRAS had noted that the use of red ant chutney or soup for the beneficial use by COVID-19 patient is out of the purview of ayurveda drugs as per regulatory provisions of the law.

While dismissing Padhial’s petition against the rejections on Friday, a division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray said, “The Court does not possess the requisite expertise to sit in appeal over the decision of the expert bodies who, for reasons stated by them, are not inclined to recommend their universal application for therapeutic or medicinal purposes”.

“Equally, the use of red ant chutney or soup by the tribal communities for medicinal and therapeutic purposes is based on their traditional knowledge systems which the Court is hardly equipped to comment upon. These are matters best left for decision by the specialised bodies like CSIR and CCRAS which themselves have several experts,” the bench was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.