The Bombay High Court on Monday directed yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved to pay Rs 50 lakh for violating an interim order that barred the firm from selling camphor products, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice RI Chagla issued the order in an interim plea by Mangalam Organics Limited, which had earlier sued Patanjali Ayurved for violating intellectual property rights by selling its camphor products, reported The Hindu.
The court had in August barred Patanjali Ayurved from selling the products in view of the trademark infringement allegations.
In its interim application, Mangalam Organics claimed that Patanjali Ayurved had continued to sell the products in violation of the court’s direction.
In June, Patanjali Ayurved submitted an affidavit tendering an unconditional apology for breaching the order, PTI reported. The company admitted to selling camphor products worth Rs 49,57,861 after the court had instructed it not to.
The company also told the bench that it would abide by the court’s direction.
“Such persistent breach of the injunction order by defendant no. 1 [Patanjali Ayurved] cannot be tolerated,” Chagla said on Monday.
H added: “There is an admission as to the breach of the injunction order having been committed by defendants for which the defendants would necessarily have to purge the contempt of the injunction order.”
The court also directed Mangalam Organics to submit an affidavit listing the breaches by Patanjali Ayurved, Bar and Bench reported.
The matter will be heard next on July 19.
On Tuesday, Patanjali Ayurved told the Supreme Court in another matter that it had stopped the sale of 14 products whose manufacturing licences had been suspended in April by the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority for Ayurvedic and Unani Services.
On April 29, the Uttarakhand government body told the top court that the licences were suspended after Patanjali Ayurved repeatedly violated the 1945 Drugs and Cosmetic Rules.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association accusing Patanjali Ayurved of carrying out a “smear campaign” against modern medicine and the Covid-19 vaccination drive.
Also read:
- A brief history of Patanjali’s dangerous claims
- Carbolic Smoke Balls and snake oil: Patanjali joins a long history of dubious medicinal advertising
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