Take ‘Appropriate Action’ Against Patanjali For Misleading Ads: PMO To Ayush Ministry

New Delhi: The PMO has asked the Ayush Ministry to take “appropriate action” on a complaint against Patanjali Ayurved, a company co-founded by yoga guru Ramdev and dealing in herbal products, for recurring violations of misleading advertisements of its products.

Trailing the directive from the PMO on January 24, the Ayush Ministry has asked the Uttarakhand division of the Ayush department to take proper action on this as the case has been pending since February 2022.

The Ministry of Ayush and the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority (SLA) had been dawdling over the misleading advertisements of Patanjali Ayurved’s drugs for obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and thyroid, despite several RTIs on them. “Since the subject matter pertains to continuous violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, by Divya Pharmacy, it comes under the jurisdiction of the State Licensing Authority, Uttarakhand,” the Ayush Ministry, in a letter to the Director, Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, said.

“Therefore, it is requested to examine the matter and take the necessary action as deemed appropriate and inform your response to the applicant under intimation to this ministry,” the letter dated to February 2 added.

The directions followed a complaint lodged with the PMO on January 15 by an RTI activist, Dr K V Babu, regarding repeated violation of the DMR (OA) Act, 1954 by Patanjali Ayurved. “I am thankful to the PMO for the prompt intervention and hope this will end the illegal advertisements by Patanjali Ayurved,” Babu told TNIE.

Babu also mentioned that his complaints were pending with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Union Ayush Ministry and SLA of Uttarakhand since February 2022.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on November 21 had warned Patanjali Ayurved of hefty fine for publishing misleading claims and advertisements against modern systems of medicine. It said the bench may also consider imposing a fine of Rs 1 crore on every product if a false claim is made that it can cure a particular ailment.

In 2021, the Delhi High Court issued a directive to Baba Ramdev, instructing him not to disseminate misleading information about allopathy and to restrict his claims about Patanjali’s product, Coronil, to those validated by authorities. The court specifically addressed concerns over Patanjali’s promotion of Coronil as a “cure” for COVID-19.