Misleading Medical Ads- Supreme Court issues 6 directives, details
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: Taking serious cognizance of misleading advertisements and the harm they can cause to society, the Supreme Court has set a two-month deadline for the states and union territories to create a grievance redressal mechanism to deal with complaints against such ads.
Issuing a series of directives to curb misleading advertisements, the apex court stressed that these deceptive advertisements could have far-reaching consequences, urging swift action to protect the public from harmful misinformation.
The bench of Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said "they could cause great harm to the society and that it was essential to stop them and save the ignorant masses"
The state governments, the court said, should create mechanisms for members of the public to lodge complaints against objectionable advertisements prohibited under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954.
The 1954 act is more than 70 years old and there is no implementation in its true letter and spirit, it said. "The 1954 act is more than 70 years old. Unfortunately, there is no implementation in its letter and spirit. It is necessary for the state governments to create machinery for implementation of the 1954 Act," it said.
"We direct the states governments to create proper grievance redressal mechanisms within a period of two months from today and give adequate publicity to the availability at frequent intervals."
The Apex Court made these observations while considering a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against misleading claims and advertisements targeting modern or "allopathic" medicine.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year on May 7, the Supreme Court directed all State Governments and Union Territories to file affidavits of their Licensing authorities regarding the action taken by them since 2018 against misleading advertisements that violated the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The issue arose when the apex court was hearing a plea filed in 2022 by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali and yoga guru Ramdev against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.
Thereafter, on July 30, 2024, the Court issued directions to all the State Governments/Union Territories to explain their inaction in imposing penalties and deterrents for compliance with the statutes. Last month, the court emphasized the necessity of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act and highlighted the requirement for a mechanism under the Act to enable citizens to file complaints against such instances.
During the hearing of the matter recently, Amicus Curiae, Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat submitted that under the DMR Act, three main routes available to tackle misleading advertisements are (1) Directly register an FIR as such an advertisement is a cognizable offence and (2) any gazetted officer can conduct a search and seize any misleading advertisement and then file an FIR as per S.8 of the DMR Act, (3) an officer authorised by State Government may scrutinise an alleged misleading advertisement as per Rule 3 of DMR Rules 1955 read with S.4 of the Act and then proceed to file an FIR.
The counsel pointed out that several states are only limiting their actions towards misleading advertisements to mere warnings and undertakings. He added, "So that is not a process and the court may specifically say that it is not permitted."
Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj for the Union informed that a dashboard for display of actions against misleading advertisements is under progress.
Considering the same, the bench directed the Union to "ensure that the dashboard is developed in such a manner that States can upload all the information regarding the actions taken under the act of 1954. We grant time of 3 months to Union of India to do so". All the states and the Union of India are to report compliance with the directions issued above by the end of June 2025, reports Livelaw
The Court noted in its order today that Section 3 of the Act prohibits the advertisements of drugs for a) the procurement of miscarriage in women or prevention of conception in women; or (b) the maintenance or improvement of the capacity of human beings for sexual pleasure; or (c) the correction of menstrual disorder in women; or (d) the cure related to diseases specified in the Schedule and the Rules whih include diseases like cancer, cataract, diabates, blood pressure, veneral diseases, kidney stones etc.
Section 4 prohibits misleading advertisements giving false impressions or false claims regarding the drugs. Section 5 prohibits advertisements of magic remedies. Section 6 prohibits the import of objectionable advertisements.
Therefore, stressing the need to have a grievance redressal mechanism in all states against such misleading advertisements, the Court issued the following key directions, as per LiveLaw report.
(1) The States will ensure that an adequate number of gazetted officers authorised under Section 8 of the Act are appointed within one month from today. Officers or persons authorised referred to in rule 3 of the 1955 rules are also to be appointed within one month;
(2)We direct the states to sensitize the police machinery through the police training academy in the state on implementation of the provisions of 1954 act;
(3) The State Governments shall create grievance redressal mechanisms so that members of the public can lodge complaints about the objectionable advertisements prohibited under the act;
(4) The grievance mechanism may provide for making complaints either on a toll-free number or by email. We direct the States Governments to create proper grievance redressal mechanisms within a period of 2 months from today and give adequate publicity to the availability at frequent intervals;
(5) As soon as complaints are received through the grievance redressal mechanism or otherwise, the same shall be immediately forwarded to the concerned officer authorised under section 8(1) to take action under the said provision. If the officer finds that there is a contravention of the 1954 Act he will set the criminal law in motion by lodging a complaint with the police station so that first information reports can be registered;
(6) We direct registry to forward copy of this order to the national legal services authority so that sensitization programs can be undertaken in the camps held by the national authority as well as the state and district authorities sensitizing the members of the public about the provisions of the 1954 act and more importantly the harm which can be cause to them in case relying upon advertisements they take recourse to consuming the drugs or to go for magic remedies advertised under the prohibited advertisements.
"It is also necessary that the legal services authorities educate masses about the provisions of 1954 and warn them of the harmful effects on their health in case they are swayed by the said advertisements," the Court stated.
Also Read:Supreme Court calls for mechanism for complaints Against Misleading medical Ads
The Centre was directed to ensure creation of a dashboard for display of actions against misleading advertisements within three months.
