Patanjali fined Rs 11 lakh for misleading advertisements

A local court in Haridwar has slapped Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved’s five production units with a fine of Rs 11 lakh for misbranding and putting up misleading advertisements of their products. ADM Lalit Narayan Mishra’s court has asked the company to pay the fine within a month.
According to a PTI report: Patanjali Ayurved was found guilty of misbranding as the products being shown by the company as produced at its own units were in fact manufactured somewhere else, the court said.
A case had been filed in the court against the company in 2012 by the District Food Safety Department after samples of mustard oil, salt, pineapple jam, besan and honey produced by Patanjali had failed quality tests at Rudrapur laboratory.
The products were found to be in violation of sections 52-53 of Food Security norms and section 23.1 (5) of Food safety and Standard (packaging and labelling) regulation.
Earlier this year in July, advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India or ASCI had once again pulled up Patanjali for running misleading ad campaigns which disparage competitors’ products.
The Consumer Complaints Council or CCC had found that Patanjali’s claim for its ‘Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil’ that rival makers are selling mustard oil adulterated with oil made by solvent extraction process with neurotoxin containing Hexane, was not substantiated.
Patanjali had also failed to substantiate its claims for Patanjali Fruit Juice, where it had claimed rival brands as expensive juices containing less pulp.
Similarly, it also failed to substantiate its claims in the ad for cattle feed ‘Patanjali Dugdhamrut’ as other companies mix 3 to 4 per cent urea and other non-edible things in their cattle feed.
In May this year, ASCI had rapped Patanjali Ayurveda for false and misleading claims in its various advertisements, including its hair oil and washing powder brands, while issuing list for month of March.