Baba Ramdev asked to appear in court

The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for failing to respond to a contempt notice over misleading advertisements and ordered yoga guru Ramdev to appear, in person, before it in two-weeks time.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also summoned Patanjali managing director Acharya Balkrishna.

On February 27, the Supreme Court restrained Patanjali Ayurved from publishing advertisements of medicines produced by it for ailments like blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and obesity, amongst others. It issued a contempt notice against Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna.

The contempt notice followed a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against Patanjali Ayurved's alleged dissemination of misleading advertisements. The court in its notice to Patanjali and Balkrishna, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them. But Patanjali did not file any response to the notice.

On Tuesday, bench took note of the fact that a response was not filed in the case despite previous directions.The court not only asked Baba Ramdev to appear before it in person, but also issued a notice asking why he should not be prosecuted for contempt of court.

During the hearing, the court asked Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Baba Ramdev, why they had not filed their response to the contempt notice yet. "Now we will ask your client to appear in court. We will make Baba Ramdev also a party. Both will be asked to appear in court," the bench said.

The court also said that it was not going to postpone the hearing of the case.