Fundamental right to health includes right to know what manufacturers, advertisers are offering: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that the fundamental right to health includes the consumer’s right to know about the quality of products being offered by the manufacturers and those advertising them [Indian Medical Association & Anr vs Union of India & Ors]..The bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah took a serious view of the dismal implementation of guidelines against misleading advertisements and directed that from now on, an advertiser or the advertising agency would have to submit a self declaration form before printing or displaying any advertisement..The declaration should state that the advertisement complies with the Advertising Code given under the Cable Television Networks Rules. It would then be uploaded on a dedicated portal to be created by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.“It is deemed appropriate to invoke the powers vested in this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for the enforcement of the fundamental right to health that encompasses the right of a consumer to be made aware of the quality of products being offered for sale by manufacturers, service providers, advertisers and advertising agencies,” the Court said..The Court passed the order after its recent hearing in the Patanjali's misleading ads case. It had warned that social media influencers and celebrities would be equally responsible and liable if they are found endorsing products or services in misleading advertisements.The Advertising Code with which compliance has been sought by the top court is as under:.The Court said that once the portal is activated, the advertisers shall start uploading the self-declaration form.Proof of uploading the self-declaration shall be made available by the advertisers to the concerned broadcaster, printer, publisher, TV Channel, or electronic media for the records, it added “No advertisements shall be permitted to be run on the relevant channels and/or in the print media/internet without uploading the self-declaration as directed above. The above directions shall be treated as the law declared by this Court under Article 141 of the Constitution of India.”.The Court said that the existing statutory provisions, rules, regulations and guidelines have a salutary object to serve the consumers and ensure that they are made aware of the kind of product that is being offered for purchase, particularly in the food and health sector. “We are of the opinion that the aforesaid Ministries ought to set up and promote a mechanism which encourages the consumer to lodge a complaint and for the said complaint to be taken to its logical conclusion, instead of simply being marked/forwarded to the concerned State authority, thus leaving the consumer clueless as to the final outcome of the complaint made,” it said in the May 7 order..While expanding the scope of the case, the Court also directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to submit data with with regard to the complaints received by the Food, Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).It also sought details regarding the action taken particularly on the complaints relating to sale of food not of the nature or substance or quality demanded, sub-standard food, misbranded food, misleading advertisements and food containing extraneous matter.“We may note that FSSAI is authorized to take action on its own in the event of any such misleading advertisements coming to its notice, without waiting for any complaint to be received,” the Court said, while seeking report on action taken since 2018..[Read Order]