Ayush ministry should set up dashboard to make details of complaints public: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Ministry of Ayush should set up a dashboard so that details about complaints filed on misleading advertisements and progress made on them can be made available to the consumers.

The apex court had earlier highlighted the aspect of misleading advertisements being published or displayed in media contrary to the provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and the rules, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali Ayurved against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.

The bench noted that the lack of proper data regarding action taken on the complaints received leaves the consumers helpless and in the dark.

"The Ministry of Ayush must set up a dashboard citing complaints received... so that the data comes in the public domain," the bench observed.

It added that the data can also help in addressing the issue of prosecution under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

The top court was informed that in several states, a number of complaints regarding misleading advertisements were forwarded to other states as the firms manufacturing those products were based there.

The bench noted that the number of complaints made by the consumers, which was over 2,500 earlier, has gone down to only around 130 and the main reason appears to be that the grievance redressal mechanism for dealing with such complaints has not been properly publicised.

It asked the ministry concerned to look into this issue and file an affidavit within two weeks.