The Supreme Court on Tuesday while listening to Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurveda's apology in the misleading advertisement case pulled up the Centre for not publicising that Coronil was to be taken just as a supplementary medicine and is not a substitute to modern medicines.
When the top court refused to accept the apology by Ramdev and Patanjali MD, and said it is inclined to take forward the contempt proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre said that it appears that the affidavits have not been filed as they should have been. "I would like to assist the court as an officer of the court," Mehta said.
The court however didn't spare Centre as well for not publicising that products by Patanjali are not a substitute for modern medicines.
"...you yourself had said that the product they come out with cannot be backed... What did you do to publicise the same with the common public?" the bench asked Centre.
The bench said that the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) Ministry has to answer on why it did not publicise that ayurvedic products were, at best, a supplement to other medicines.
The court eventually agreed to SG Mehta's prayer for granting one last chance to Ramdev and Patanjali to file a reply.
The Central government was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
"We have questions for AYUSH. You issued notice to Patanjali and they filed a reply and reply is not before us and we are wondering why. COVID was in 2022 and you had yourself stated that these were at best a supplement to the main medicine. This was not publicised at all. Nothing could move without the Central go-ahead during COVID and you did nothing to make this known. It was a critical period," Justice Kohli observed and remarked that a lot remains to be said on Coronil.
Justice Kohli also pulled up Centre for not acting against Patanjali, despite the latter's disparaging claims against modern medicine.
"They have mocked the others. Have you seen the transcript?" Justice Kohli asked while referring to Ramdev's advertisements during Covid-19.
The court has ordered that the Drugs and License Department be also added as a party to the case and has made the state of Uttarakhand a party as well.