New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (February 24), while hearing a matter pertaining to misleading advertisements, emphasised on the need for a mechanism to enable citizens to file complaints on misleading advertisements.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan The bench was hearing a 2022 plea filed by the Indian Medical Association, which alleged a smear campaign by Patanjali and yoga guru Ramdev against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.
Implementation of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act was of vital importance: Apex Court
The bench said that the implementation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act was of vital importance and it was essential to comply with its provisions.
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The bench said that a machinery needed to be set up for the citizens who wanted to file complaints on misleading advertisements and said that it would consider this on March 7.
Place a note on implementation of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, bench asked amicus curiae
The bench asked senior advocate Shadan Farasat, who has been appointed amicus curiae, to place before the court a note on the implementation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act by the next date of hearing.
The bench on Monday also took up the issue regarding compliance of Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 by states of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and union territory of Puducherry.
What did the apex court say earlier?
The apex court had earlier on August 27 last year stayed a notification issued by the Ministry of Ayush omitting Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, which prohibits misleading advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani drugs.
Earlier on February 10, the top court had come down heavily on several states and had summoned their chief secretaries over the “failure” to act against illegal advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs. It had directed the chief secretaries of those states to appear before it through video-conferencing to explain why these states were non-compliant.
The top court had on May 7 last year directed that a self-declaration be obtained from the advertisers on the line of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 before an advertisement was permitted to be issued.
