Overview

• Justices BV Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan vacated the stay on the deletion of Rule 170 and disposed of the Indian Medical Association’s petition on misleading AYUSH advertisements.
• The AYUSH Ministry formally removed Rule 170 on July 1, 2024, ending the requirement for state-level approval of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani marketing.
• The bench held that an executive-deleted regulation cannot be restored by judicial order and directed parties to seek redress under existing statutory provisions.
• Contempt proceedings against Patanjali Ayurved promoters Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna were closed after the company issued unconditional apologies to the court.
• The court emphasized that consumer protection laws, state regulators and self-regulatory measures will now handle post-publication enforcement of misleading health claims.