GUWAHATI: Acharya Balkrishna, the Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved, has issued an apology to the Supreme Court of India for violating the undertaking submitted by the company to the apex court and continuing to publish advertisements regarding medicinal cures.
The apology comes only two days after the Supreme Court on March 19 had ordered Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna to personally appear in the court in a contempt case over the publication of the advertisements.
The Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah had earlier issued a Contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved and its MD for continuing to publish advertisements despite the assurance given by company’s counsel to the Court that it would refrain from doing such acts.
ALSO READ: Sadhguru Recovering Well After Brain Surgery
The top court had issued an order on February 27 in which Patanjali Ayurved was banned from advertising or branding its products that are meant to address the diseases and disorders specified in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, while the company was also cautioned from making any statement against any system of medicine.
The affidavit submitted by Balakrishna stated that the impugned advertisement was meant to contain only general statements and inadvertently included the offending sentences as the media personnel was not aware of the November order, when the company had submitted the undertaking before the court.
Click Here To Join Our WhatsApp Channel
“By way of clarification, not as a defense, the Deponent begs to submit that its intention is only to exhort the citizens of this country to lead a healthier life by consuming products of the Respondent No. 5 including products for lifestyle ailments through the use age old literature and materials supplementing and backed by ayurvedic research,” the affidavit further stated.
Additionally, Balakrishna further called the February 27 order as “in an archaic state,” and claimed that the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements ) Act 1955 is in an "archaic state" as it was enacted at a time when scientific evidence was on Ayurvedic medicines was lacking.
He went on to claim that Patanjali now possesses “evidence-based scientific data with clinical research conducted in Ayurveda, which would demonstrate the advances made through scientific research in the context of diseases” mentioned in the schedule of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act.
The Supreme Court will now hear the case on April 2.
