The Bombay High Court on Monday imposed ₹4 crore costs on Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for alleged violation of its 2023 ad-interim order that restrained Patanjali from selling camphor products. The order was passed in relation to a trademark infringement suit filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd. against Patanjali.  

Single Bench judge Justice R.I. Chagla passed the order and noted that Patanjali had made a ‘wilful and deliberate breach’ of the court’s order and there is no doubt that the firm had the intention to flout the court orders.  

Justice Chagla disposed of the petition filed by Mangalam Organics which is seeking contempt action against Patanjali for selling Mangalam camphor despite the court’s restraining order. The Bench has directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. to deposit ₹4 crore within two weeks. Earlier this month, the High Court had directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. to deposit ₹50 lakh in addition. 

Copyright infringement suit

Representing Mangalam Organics, advocates Hiren Kamod, Anees Patel, Usha Chandrasekhar and Avisha Mehta, instructed by advocate Suvarna Joshi had filed a copyright infringement suit against Patanjali alleging copyright claims on their camphor products. The Bombay High Court on August 30, 2023, in an interim order, had restricted Patanjali from selling or advertising its camphor products. After the court’s restraining order, Mangalam Organics later informed the court that Patanjali had violated the court order by continuing its sale and advertisement of the same camphor products. 

In June 2024, Rajneesh Mishra, director of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., tendered an unconditional apology, and, in an affidavit, he admitted that the company had continued to display and sell the restrained camphor products. Even after the injunction order was passed, the firm admitted selling camphor products amounting to ₹49,67,861 till June 2024. Representing Patanjali, senior advocate Zal Andhyarujina and advocate Serena Jethmalani, instructed by advocates Archit Virmani, Atul Gupta, Anshul Kochar and R. Kumar, also stated that camphor products worth ₹25,94,505 were still with the distributors but their client (Patanjali) had stopped the sale. 

However, Mangalam Organics claimed that Patanjali continued the business of selling and supplying camphor products even after June 2024 and the product was available for purchase on Patanjali’s website on July 8, 2024. Patanjali had accepted the same on the July 8 hearing at the High Court. On this, the court ordered Patanjali to deposit ₹50 lakh and directed Mangalam Organics to tender an affidavit with details of all the breaches of the order by Patanjali.  

Noida:

The sale of 14 Ayurvedic medicines manufactured by Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurveda Limited has been banned by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration.

The Supreme Court on July 9 directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, founded by yoga guru Ramdev, to file an affidavit stating whether advertisements of its 14 products, whose manufacturing licences were initially suspended but later restored, have been withdrawn.

The Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority had on April 15 issued an order suspending the manufacturing licences of 14 products of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Divya Pharmacy.

The Regional Ayurvedic and Unani Officer of Gautam Buddh Nagar issued the directive banning the 14 products on Friday, officials said.

This action follows orders from the State Drug Licensing Authority, Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Uttarakhand, they said.

According to information shared by the district information office, all medical practitioners and medical stores operating in the district have been informed to cease the sale of the 14 listed products immediately.

The listed products include Swasari Gold, Swasari Vati, Bronchom, Swasari Pravahi, Swasari Avaleh, Mukta Vati Extra Power, Lipidom, Madhu Grit, BP Grit, Madhunashini Vati Extra Power, Livamrit Advance, Livogrit, Eyegrit Gold, and Patanjali Drishti Eye Drop.

“As per the orders of the State Drug Licensing Authority Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Uttarakhand, Dehradun, the manufacturing license for the attached list of 14 medicines of Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurveda Limited has been cancelled,” Dr Dharmendra Kumar Kem, Regional Ayurvedic and Unani Officer Gautam Buddh Nagar, said.

“In pursuance of the above orders, all the drug dealers/medical stores working in the district are informed that the sale of the medicines mentioned in the attached list is banned with immediate effect. If found buying/selling the said medicines, action will be taken as per rules,” Kem added in the order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, founded by yoga guru Ramdev, to file an affidavit stating whether advertisements of its 14 products, whose manufacturing licences were initially suspended but later restored, have been withdrawn.

The Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority had on April 15 issued an order suspending the manufacturing licences of 14 products of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Divya Pharmacy.

In a fresh development, the state licensing authority has filed an affidavit in the apex court stating that the suspension order has been cancelled following a report by a high-level committee which examined the grievances of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in the wake of the row.

It said on May 17, the operation of the April 15 order was paused and later the the suspension order was cancelled.

However, during the hearing, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta took note of the May 16 affidavit of Patanjali in which the firm stated that the sale of these 14 products was stopped in light of the April 15 suspension order.

The affidavit stated that the company has also taken steps to remove the related advertisements from its official verified social media accounts/handles.

“Respondent number five (Patanjali Ayurved Ltd) is directed to file an affidavit stating inter alia whether the request made to social media intermediaries have been acceded to and advertisements of 14 products have been removed/ withdrawn,” the bench said.

The top court, which was hearing a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine, asked the firm to file its affidavit within two weeks.

The bench asked senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for the IMA, whether they have done due diligence and checked if these advertisements were withdrawn after the affidavit was filed by Patanjali in May.

During the hearing, an advocate appearing for one of the applicants said the Centre should look into the matter related to misleading advertisements as quickly as possible.

“This is having a great impact on the online industry,” he said, adding, “The industry should not suffer. That is not the intent of the orders (of the court)”.

Justice Kohli said, “The intention is not to cause any harassment to anybody. The intention is only to focus on particular sectors and particular aspects.” One of the advocates said he was appearing for a radio association and they have advertisements which are of 10 seconds.

“We are also of the opinion that the industry should not suffer in any manner. The focus of this court has already been highlighted in the previous orders and needs no repetition,” the bench said.

It said the issue should be discussed by the authorities at the highest level.

“We don’t want that there should be layers of approval so that whatever has to be shortened and simplified, that should be done,” the bench said.

Noting that the scope of the petition has been expanded in terms of its order passed on May 7, the bench requested advocate Shadan Farasat to assist the court as an amicus curiae in the matter.

It said the amicus shall assist the court in collating the data being furnished by the state authorities, including the Centre and other authorities, so as to save time and focus on the issues highlighted by the court earlier.

“Can we request you to convene a meeting so that all the stakeholders and the senior most officers of your department can have a brain-storming,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Nataraj, who was appearing for the Centre.

Nataraj said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has held high-level meetings with various stakeholders with an idea of resolving the issues and the difficulties expressed by them.

“He (ASG) submits that such meetings shall be taken further… to streamline the issues and point out the difficulties being faced by the intervenors and the manner in which they can be resolved,” the bench noted.

It asked the ministry to continue the “churning of ideas” and have further meetings in this direction and file an affidavit making its recommendations within three weeks.

The bench said affidavits filed by several state licensing authorities in the matter be furnished to the amicus for his perusal and to enable him to assist the court by pointing out if there were any non-compliance by any of the state authorities in terms of the orders passed by the court.

The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on July 30.

On May 14, the top court had reserved its order on the contempt notice issued to yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in the misleading advertisements case.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd had assured the top court on November 21 last year that it will not violate any law, especially those relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it.

It had also assured the bench that “no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form”.

The top court had said Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is “bound down to such assurance”.

The non-observance of the specific undertaking and subsequent media statements had irked the bench, which later issued notices to show cause why contempt proceedings should be not initiated against them. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pithoragarh:

A court here has sentenced three people to six months’ imprisonment for violating food safety standards in making Patanjali Elaichi “soan papadi”.

Assistant Prosecution Officer Ritesh Verma said that Pithoragarh Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Singh on Saturday also imposed fines of Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 on them, besides the jail sentence.

Verma said that the court sentenced Leeladhar Pathak, a shopkeeper from the Berinag town of Pithoragarh, to six months’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for selling the product.

The court sentenced Ajay Joshi, assistant manager of Patanjali’s authorised representative Kanhaji Distributors Pvt Ltd located in Nainital’s Ramnagar, to six months’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000.

Abhishek Kumar, assistant general manager of the company, has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25,000.

He said that the three were convicted under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

Verma said that after collecting samples of Patanjali “Elaichi Navratna soan papdi” from Pathak’s shop on September 17, 2019, they were sent to the National Laboratory in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad for testing.

A case in this regard was registered in 2021 after reports found the samples did not meet the food safety standards. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dehradun:

An interim stay was put on Friday on the implementation of an order suspending the manufacturing licences of more than a dozen medicines of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Divya Pharmacy.

The interim stay is being imposed with immediate effect on the basis of a preliminary inquiry report by a high-level committee, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Secretary, Ayush, Uttarakhand government, said in an order.

“The order of the suspension is illegal and should not have been passed by the licensing authority in the manner it has been passed,” the committee looking into the matter said in its report.

The firms had challenged last month’s suspension order issued by the Uttarakhand state licensing authority.

“Since the licence has been cancelled without following the procedure established by law, the committee is submitting its report to the government of Uttarakhand for appropriate decision,” it said.

The State Licensing Authority, Ayurvedic and Unani Services had suspended the manufacturing licence of 14 Patanjali products last month under Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1945 and Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954.

The medicines whose manufacturing licence had been suspended included Swasari Gold, Swasari Vati, Bronchom, Swasari Pravahi, Swasari Avaleh, Mukta Vati Extra Power, Lipidom, BP Grit, Madhugrit, Madhunashini Vati Extra Power, Livamrit Advance, Livogrit, Eyegrit Gold and Patanjali Drishti Eyedrop.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Yoga guru Ramdev (centre) arrives at the Supreme Court for hearing on the Patanjali misleading advertisements case, in New Delhi, on April 10, 2024
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to accept a second round of apologies from self-styled yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Patanjali Ayurved Limited, and its managing director Acharya Balkrishna in a contempt case, flagging concern about Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies playing with the health of the gullible public while government fails to crack the whip.

“The victim is always the public. We are concerned with all those FMCG companies who are taking their consumers and clients up and down the garden path, showing them very rosy pictures about what their products can do for them. People who pay good money for these products finally end up suffering at the cost of their health… That is absolutely unacceptable,” Justice Hima Kohli observed.

Editorial | Dangerous game: On Patanjali Ayurved’s claims

The Bench, also comprising Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, said the objectionable and misleading advertisements by Patanjali Ayurved to cure everything from diabetes and obesity to liver dysfunction, and even COVID-19 during the months of the pandemic, were “deliberate and wilful violations” of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954 and its Rules.

The apex court had initiated contempt proceedings against Patanjali Ayurved and Mr. Balkrishna on February 27 for violating an undertaking given to it in November 2023 that they would refrain from advertising “cures” in violation of the 1954 Act. On November 21, the apex court had directed the company to not make any “casual statements” to the print or electronic media about the efficacy of their medicinal products or indulge in any disparaging statements about other disciplines of medicine, including allopathy. However, the very next day, Mr. Ramdev had held a press conference.

“We are thinking, why we should not treat your apology with the same disdain in which you treated the undertaking given to this court?” Justice Kohli addressed senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the proposed contemnors.

Justice Amanullah remarked the apology came from the trio only after “the writing was plain on the wall”.

Justice Kohli said their conduct, when faced with contempt action, changed from hubris to abject surrender when they found themselves cornered.

In its order, the court recorded that the contemnors, Mr. Ramdev and Mr. Balkrishna, had tried to “wriggle out” of personally appearing in the apex court.

Justice Amanullah said it was conduct like this that made a mockery of the Supreme Court, with the public claiming that judges were sitting in an ivory tower.

The court made it clear that it would direct action against every person or authority who had broken the law, without mercy.

“Why should we show mercy when the public is cheated by medicines touted as a cure?” Justice Kohli asked. The court listed the contempt case for April 16.

The hearing saw the court turn its ire on the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority for choosing to turn a blind eye to the misleading advertisments.

“You twiddled your thumbs… Why should we not come down like a ton of bricks on your officers? They have been filibustering… You were in deep slumber from 2018, when the first complaint came about their products, to 2024,” Justice Kohli told a senior official from the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority who was present in the courtroom.

The official said he would file an First Information Report (FIR) now. Justice Amanullah, in a sarcastic tone, said he need not bother after so many years.

“Now you have woken up to a statute which is the law of the land?” Justice Kohli asked the State government.

The court said the assurances of the State government to move against Patanjali under the 1954 Act, and the apology of the three proposed contemnors were “not worth the paper they were written on”.

The court directed the State Licensing Authority officers-in-charge, the present one and his predecessor, to file detailed affidavits on why action had not been taken against Patanjali Ayurved under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.

It further directed all the officers who had served as District Ayurvedic and Unani Officers, Haridwar, from the period between 2018 to 2024, to file affidavits explaining their inaction against Patanjali Ayurved under the law. The court has listed this part of the case on April 23.

In the previous hearing on April 2, the court had questioned the government for “shutting its eyes” while Patanjali Ayurved “tom-tommed” its wares as panacea during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its affidavit, the Centre responded that the Interdisciplinary Technical Review Committee for COVID-19 had raised “ethical concerns”, and recommended in its report in December 2020 that Patanjali Ayurved’s ‘Coronil’ “may be used as a supporting measure for COVID-19 without claiming cure”.