Top Indian court blasts drugs regulator for not acting against yoga guru's medical firm

Patanjali Foods

10/04/2024 11:11

By Arpan  Chaturvedi and Shivam Patel
       NEW DELHI, April 10 (Reuters) - India's top court
admonished the head of a state drugs regulator for failing to
take action against a popular yoga guru's firm which claimed its
traditional ayurvedic medicines can cure chronic diseases such
as diabetes and asthma.
    The Supreme Court said on Wednesday the state drugs
department had "tried to pass on the buck" despite being
informed in 2018 of advertisements issued by Divya Pharmacy, a
unit of yoga guru Baba Ramdev's hugely popular firm Patanjali
Ayurved.
    Ramdev, dressed in a saffron-coloured robe, attended the
hearing of contempt case against Patanjali for defying court
directives to stop publishing the ads. 
    Mithilesh Kumar, the head of Uttarakhand state drugs
regulator, also attended the session. With folded hands, he
pleaded with the judges to give him more time to take action
against the company, which the judges refused.
    "Why should we not come down on your officers like a ton of
bricks?" Justice Hima Kohli asked the Uttarakhand state counsel.
    "Instead of taking action, the state licensing authority
told (the federal government) that it has issued a warning to
the concerned firm and further action will be subject to
direction of Supreme Court," Kohli said.
    Ramdev is one of India's top yoga gurus and offers ayurvedic
cures for many illnesses through his TV shows. He has also
shared the stage with ministers in Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's government and leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party in the past.  
    The two-judge bench said the drugs authority remained in
"deep slumber" on the issue and had failed to act after issuing
a warning to the firm over the advertisements.
    The bench also refused to accept a second apology by Ramdev
and Patanjali co-founder Acharya Balkrishna for defying the
court's order. It set April 16 as the next date of hearing. 

 (Reporting by Shivam Patel and Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by YP
Rajesh and Miral Fahmy)
 ((Shivam.Patel@thomsonreuters.com;))