New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday emphasised on formulating a mechanism for citizens to file complaints in connection with the misleading advertisements. The matter was heard by a bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan. The bench stressed that the Drug and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, was of vital importance and it is essential to comply with its provisions. "This Act is most vital," said the bench.
During the hearing, the bench was informed that in Karnataka, due to lack of material particulars, no prosecution was initiated in 25 cases of alleged misleading advertisements.
The bench observed that these are the excuses given by the state government and it is very easy for the state to find out the source of these advertisements and stressed, "provided there is a will on the state's part to do so…”. The bench asked the Karnataka government to ascertain the wrongdoers and place a compliance report before the court within a month.
Senior advocate Shadan Farasat, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, contended before the bench that as far as Kerala was concerned, there was proper implementation of the Rule 170 in the state. The bench said a machinery needs to be set up for the citizens, who wanted to file complaints over misleading advertisements. The bench said it would consider this aspect during the next hearing on March 7.
The bench also dealt with the issue concerning compliance of Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, by Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and UT of Puducherry. In August, last year, the apex court stayed a notification issued by the Ministry of Ayush, which omitted Rule 170, which prohibits misleading advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani drugs.
The apex court on February 10, had slammed several states, including Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, summoning their chief secretaries over the "failure" to act against illegal advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs. The bench had directed the chief secretaries to virtually appear before it to explain why these states were non-compliant.
