The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Patanjali Ayurveda and Baba Ramdev on a plea alleging that its herbal tooth powder, Divya Dant Manjan, contains non-vegetarian ingredient and has been misbranded as vegetarian.

Justice Sanjeev Narula also issued notice to the Central government and Patanjali's Divya Pharmacy which manufactures its products.

The matter will be hear next on November 28.

The petition filed by advocate Yatin Sharma has alleged that the packaging of Patanjali’s Divya Dant Manjan has a distinctive green dot, a symbol for vegetarian products, but the list of ingredients on the packaging clearly showed that the tooth powder contain Sepia officinalis (common cuttlefish)

The petitioner argued that this amounts to misbranding and even Ramdev and others are promoting the product as vegetarian.

Sharma said that this violates the Drugs and Cosmestics Act.

The plea argued that even Ramdev admitted that his tooth powder contains samudra fen (cuttlefish).

"Moreover, it was already admitted by Respondent No. 6 [Ramdev] in his YouTube video that the ingredient "samudra fen" is an animal-based product. In his video, he stated, "Lekin hum jeev ki hatya nahi karte, jeev ko nahi marte. Jo samudra phenk deta he jin jeevo ka moksh (death) ho jata he wo, samundra ke kinare a jate he, unko utha lete he, unko upyog kar lete he (We do not kill anything. Once the sea brings the fish to the shore, they attain moksh. We pick them and use them)," the plea said.

Sharma said that he and his family were swayed by the advertisements of Patanjali which claim their products to be ayurvedic, plant-based and vegetarian.

"The Petitioner seeks redressal for the profound distress caused by the inadvertent consumption of a non-vegetarian product, emphasizing the importance of upholding religious beliefs and ensuring transparency in product representation."

Sharma argued his case in person. The plea has been filed through advocates Swapnil Chaudhary, Prashant Gupta, Mohit Solanki and Pulkit Chaudhary.