Remarks by IMA President on Supreme Court finding improper in misleading advertising case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday termed Indian Medical Association (IMA) president RV Asokan’s statements against the apex court “very, very unacceptable” in a recent interview in which he answered questions on the Patanjali Ayurved misleading advertising case.

Expressing their displeasure over Asokan’s comments, a day before the top court was to hear the case, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah sought his response to a petition filed by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Patanjali, told the court that they have filed an application urging the court to take judicial notice of the IMA president’s ‘wanton and baseless remarks’.

”This is a very serious issue. They are trying to pervert the course of justice… Your Lordships have asked one or two questions and look how they are responding as if no one can ask anything,” Rohatgi said.

Rohatgi said during the final hearing that he had handed over the transcript of the interview, which was published in newspapers, to the court.

”You cannot say you don’t know,” the court told the IMA’s counsel.

Later during the hearing, when senior advocate PS Patwalia appeared before the IMA, the court asked him about Asokan’s comments.

When Patwalia said it was ‘rather not very happy’, the bench curtly said: ‘You are very lenient with your words’.

“Your president gave an interview on the eve of the hearing. Why on the eve of the hearing?” the bench asked.

Patwalia said he had been called for an interview by the Press Trust of India (PTI) on a host of other issues.

”I think what happened next was a leading question and he fell into it,” he said.

“A doctor who falls?” said Judge Amanullah, irritated.

In an interaction with PTI editors on April 29 for his program ‘@4 Parliament Street’, the IMA president had said it was “unfortunate” that the Supreme Court had criticized the association and also some practices of private doctors. Asokan was responding to a question on the Supreme Court’s observations during a hearing on April 23, when it said that while it pointed one finger at Patanjali, the remaining four fingers were pointed at IMA. The “vague and general statements,” Asokan added, have demoralized private doctors.

”We sincerely believe that they should look at the material that was in front of them. They may not have felt that this was not the issue before them in court.

”You can say anything, but still the majority of doctors are conscientious… and practice according to ethics and principles. It does not behoove the Supreme Court to speak broadly against the medical profession of the country which after all has sacrificed so many lives for the Covid war,” he had said.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the Supreme Court observed that the President of the IMA, who is a petitioner before it in the case, goes to the press and makes a statement in a sub-judicial matter. “You are the one coming to court and saying that the other side are the ones misleading the public through advertising, confusing your medicine system. What are you doing?” said the bench.

When Patwalia said that the IMA president actually “praised” the Supreme Court order, the court said, “We don’t want a pat on the back from anyone. We are just doing our job.”

”This court is aware of the fact and you must be aware that it has broad enough shoulders to handle all this,” Justice Kohli said.

”Very, very unacceptable,” Judge Amanullah added.

The court told Patwalia that his response failed to convince the court.

Patwalia said the IMA president “regretted it” and realized he should have kept his mouth shut.

‘We’re not worried about what you told him. We are concerned about what the other party observed on the last date and your inaction,” the court said.

Patwalia requested the bank to give him time till next week to make amends.

The bench asked the IMA president to respond to Patanjali Ayurved’s application and posted the matter for further hearing on May 14.

While hearing the case on April 30, the Supreme Court had taken keen note of the IMA president’s comments and warned that there could be ‘serious consequences’.

The apex court is hearing a plea filed by the IMA in 2022 alleging a smear campaign against the Covid vaccination drive and modern medical systems like allopathy.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)