The Centre recently defended before the Supreme Court its letter asking state/Union Territories licensing authorities to not take action against ads related to Ayurvedic and Ayush products under Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 (1945 Rules). This follows in the contempt case against Patanjali Ayurveda over the publication of misleading advertisements.
According to the affidavit lodged by the Joint Secretary of the Ayush Ministry, the letter was issued in view of the recommendation made by the Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB) on May 25, 2023, that Rule 170 should be omitted. Notably, Rule 170 of the 1945 Rules prohibits advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha, or Unani drugs without licensing authorities approval. The aforesaid letter was issued by the Centre on August 29, 2023. It was issued since the final notification omitting the provision would have taken time.
In the affidavit, the Centre contended that as the process of final gazette notification will take further time, in order to avoid confusion among the various state/ UT SLAs and to avert avoidable litigations, Ministry of Ayush vide letter no. T- 13011/1/2022-DCC-Part (2) dated August 29, 2023 ordered all state/UTs Licensing Authorities not to take any action under Rule 170 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945 as the final notification is under process.
Earlier, the top court had asked the Centre to respond on what weighed with its decision to omit Rule 170. Responding, Additional Solicitor General, KM Nataraj, contended that he would take the instructions in this regard and clarify them.
The Centre in its affidavit has mentioned multiple proceedings before various High Courts wherein this Rule has been challenged and interim relief was granted. It added that in its last meeting held on May 25, 2023 abiding to the aforesaid direction of the Delhi High Court to reconsider the matter of the Rule 170 of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, the ASUDTAB recommended to proceed with final notification for omission of the Rule 170 and its related Forms mentioned in the D & C Rules, 1945.