The Uttarakhand govt suspends licences of 14 Patanjali products over false ads. Ramdev faces contempt charges for not complying with directives to stop misleading advertising. The Supreme Court to hear the case on April 30.

The drug regulator of Uttarakhand has suspended the manufacturing licences of 14 products made by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved citing misleading advertisements about their efficacy, a notification dated April 24 showed. The Uttarakhand government’s order has not been made public yet.

The licences have been put on hold for repeatedly publishing misleading advertisements about the effectiveness of these medications, the government order showed.

The Supreme Court has in recent weeks repeatedly criticised self-styled yoga guru and Patanjali Ayurved co-founder Ramdev for not complying with its directives to stop misleading advertisements of some of his products.

The apex court will be hearing Patanjali’s case on Tuesday, April 30, to determine whether to press contempt charges against Ramdev or not.

Earlier today, Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr RV Asokan explained why the doctors’ body dragged Patanjali to court saying Ramdev “crossed a red line” when he claimed he could cure COVID-19 and at the same time maligned modern medicine.

In an interview with news agency PTI, Asokan said Ramdev went against the medical profession by saying “modern medicine is a stupid and bankrupt science”.

The Supreme Court recently heard the IMA’s 2022 plea alleging a smear campaign against the COVID vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.

In a 2021 video, Ramdev was allegedly heard saying, “Allopathy is a stupid science and medicines such as Remdesivir, Fabiflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat COVID-19 patients.”

His remarks caused massive outrage and the IMA sent a legal notice to him.

The court had asked Ramdev, his aide Acharya Balakrishnan and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd last month to issue a public apology for not following its orders on misleading ads.

During a hearing on April 23, the court also came down heavily on the petitioner, the IMA, stating that its members also engage in recommending unnecessary and expensive medicines. It pointed out several complaints alleging unethical conduct of the IMA.