Patanjali's 'soan papdi' fails quality test, official and others arrested

A Patanjali official and two others have been sentenced to six months in prison by a Uttarakhand court after samples of the Patanjali Navratna Elaichi Soan Papdi, a traditional sweet, failed a quality test, reported India Today.

The District Food Safety Officer of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand collected the samples from a shop in Berinag Market in September 2019 following concerns about the product.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Pithoragarh, Sanjay Singh, handed down the sentence to Abhishek Kumar, assistant general manager of Patanjali Food and Herbal Park, Laksar; Ajay Joshi, assistant manager of Kanha Ji Distributor Pvt Ltd, Ramnagar; and local shopkeeper Leeladhar Pathak to six months imprisonment under Section 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

Patanjali Ayurveda Limited and Ajay Joshi were each fined Rs 10,000, while Abhishek Kumar was ordered to pay Rs 25,000 and Pathak Rs 5,000.

Samples collected from Leeladhar Pathak’s shop on September 17, 2019, were sent to a testing lab in Rudrapur, where they were found to be of substandard quality. Subsequently, cases were registered against the three men by the District Food Safety Officer.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court stated that failure to serve their sentences would result in additional imprisonment ranging from seven days to six months for the accused.

Meanwhile, in a recent development, the Supreme Court asked Patanjali Ayurved whether the sale of its 14 products, whose manufacturing licences were suspended by the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority last month, had stopped.

Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for Patanjali, told the Supreme Court that the company had stopped the sale of these products.

It also noted that the counsel appearing for Patanjali Ayurved, Balkrishna and Ramdev sought time to file affidavits indicating the steps taken to recall the advertisements of products whose licences were suspended.

“The said affidavit is sought to be filed within three weeks. Needful shall be done within three weeks…,” the bench said.

“Orders are reserved on the contempt notice issued to respondents five to seven [Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, Balkrishna and Ramdev],” the bench added. It stated that Ramdev and Balkrishna would not be required to appear in court until specific orders were issued.