Team JGJ

June 13,2024 Due to the complex nature of our jobs and other commitments in life, it may not always be possible for committee members of a cooperative housing society (CHS/Society) to be physically present for routine meetings. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the commissioner and registrar for cooperative housing societies in Maharashtra allowed meetings to be conducted online for convenience and to maintain social distancing.  Even today, housing society meetings can be conducted online, provided some committee members are physically present while others attend online via video. Other formalities, such as signing the attendance registrar or minutes book, can be completed once members visit the society office. I have explained this in detail in one of the concerns raised this week.  The validity of structural audits is another problem that we are looking at. Although not as common, there are cases when a structural audit done by the local municipal corporation needs independent verification through experts. I will explain the formalities in conducting such an independent verification as well. Legality of Committee Meetings Conducted Online Question:  Is it legal to conduct management committee meetings online, as most committee members are continuously travelling and it becomes difficult to set a date for physical meetings. Answer:  For convenience, a Society is allowed to conduct its meetings in a hybrid mode, where some of the committee members are physically present in the Society’s office and those that could not join have attended the meeting online through a video call. It is crucial, however, that at least one committee member is present for such a meeting physically at the Society’s office.  The meeting minutes need to mention who was present physically and who had joined online through a video call. Those who could not attend the meeting physically should sign the minutes book when they next have the opportunity to come to the Society’s office.  CONSUMER INTEREST Due to the complex nature of our jobs and other commitments in life, it may not always be possible for committee members of a cooperative housing society (CHS/Society) to be physically present for routine meetings. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the commissioner and registrar for cooperative housing societies in Maharashtra allowed meetings to be conducted online for convenience and to maintain social distancing.  Even today, housing society meetings can be conducted online, provided some committee members are physically present while others attend online via video. Other formalities, such as signing the attendance registrar or minutes book, can be completed once members visit the society office. I have explained this in detail in one of the concerns raised this week.  The validity of structural audits is another problem that we are looking at. Although not as common, there are cases when a structural audit done by the local municipal corporation needs independent verification through experts. I will explain the formalities in conducting such an independent verification as well. Legality of Committee Meetings Conducted Online Question:  Is it legal to conduct management committee meetings online, as most committee members are continuously travelling and it becomes difficult to set a date for physical meetings. Answer:  For convenience, a Society is allowed to conduct its meetings in a hybrid mode, where some of the committee members are physically present in the Society’s office and those that could not join have attended the meeting online through a video call. It is crucial, however, that at least one committee member is present for such a meeting physically at the Society’s office.  The meeting minutes need to mention who was present physically and who had joined online through a video call. Those who could not attend the meeting physically should sign the minutes book when they next have the opportunity to come to the Society’s office.  Independently Verifying Structural Audit Report Question: Our building has been declared as dilapidated under C1 category by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). The structural report for our building was prepared by an auditor who was compliant and registered with the TMC. In my humble opinion, the structure of our building is stable and I genuinely believe that we should be in the C3 category. Is there an opportunity to get a second opinion for a structural audit of our building, perhaps from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) or the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B)? Will I need a no objection letter/certificate (NOC) from the Society to undertake such a task? I would be willing to cover the audit expenses if the Society refuses to do so. Please advise.  Answer: To challenge the TMC structural report and consult either VJTI or IIT-Bombay, you do not need to obtain an NOC from the Society. You can simply take TMC’s structural report and inform TMC in writing that you want to verify their structural report through experts from VJTI or IIT-Bombay. Mention in this letter that TMC should not take any action based on their structural report until the independent verification is done. You should also write a similar letter to your Society informing them to withhold any action until the structural audit is independently verified. Kindly consult the appropriate authorities at either VJTI or IIT-Bombay regarding the charges for such an audit. You may then write a formal letter and share a copy of the structural report with your chosen independent expert. A NOC from the Society is not required for this process.  Question: My unmarried brother passed away recently and I am the only surviving sibling. I now want to claim my share in his property. However, one of our nieces has claimed that she is a nominee in the concerned flat and that the entire share should go to her. The secretary of the Society refuses to share any details of the flat on request and has also refused to give me an appointment to meet. How can I acquire details of the flat? Will filing an RTI application with the deputy registrar help me in any way? Please guide.  Answer: I hope you have submitted

June 14,2024 When you read this news, RBI Slaps Rs11.50 Lakh Penalty on 3 Cooperative Banks from Uttar Pradesh, you think the regulator penalises the banks that are non-compliant in transferring the unclaimed deposits to the depositor education and protection fund (DEAF) within the prescribed period. It may be a shock of the day if you come to know that there is a loophole in the system which paves the way for the banks to perpetually renew the term deposits and they never need to transfer them to unclaimed deposits to DEAF. This article delves into the ambiguity and inadequacy in the regulatory guidelines. Important regulatory guidelines on inoperative accounts and unclaimed deposits 1. RBI has explained the need for proper control and monitoring of unclaimed deposits through a press release dated 22/07/2022  2. RBI has taken a significant step towards consolidating and rationalising the framework governing inoperative accounts and unclaimed deposits. On 1 January 2024, RBI issued a comprehensive set of instructions, under the circular (RBI/2023-24/105 DOR.SOG (LEG).REC/64/09.08.024/2023-24), which aims to streamline the classification and activation processes for such accounts. The extant guidelines of RBI (including the above two) do not touch on auto-renewal of term deposits continuously by the banks. There are certain provisions in the master directions issued by RBI which are ambiguous and are conveniently (mis)interpreted by banks in perpetually enjoying the funds of the customers. A peculiar provision most misinterpreted Master directions on the interest rate on deposits issued by RBI provide the following guidelines about renewal of overdue deposits. 2.13. Renewal of overdue deposits All aspects concerning renewal of overdue deposits may be decided by individual banks subject to their board laying down a transparent policy in this regard and the customers being notified of the terms and conditions of renewal including interest rates, at the time of acceptance of a deposit. The policy should be non-discretionary and non-discriminatory. Based on the above master directions, most of the banks have a board-approved policy on the renewal of overdue deposits on the similar lines given below. Unless there are specific instructions to the contrary, term deposits will be renewed for the same tenure as was for the matured term deposit and rate of interest would be as prevailing on due date. The conundrum of auto-renewal A common practice among many Indian banks is the auto-renewal of term deposits on maturity, especially in the absence of explicit depositor instructions. This policy, while convenient for maintaining the continuity of investments, raises a critical question in light of the RBI’s new guidelines: Can term deposits be perpetually renewed, and if so, do they ever get classified as unclaimed deposits? Present term deposit policy of banks explained For instance, a depositor has made a term deposit on, say, 15 February 2012, for a period of three years and the deposit matures for payment on 15 February 2015. On the date of maturity, the depositor has the following three options. a) To close/ redeem the deposit fully on the maturity date and get the proceeds. b) Renew the deposit (matured amount) fully for a further period of his choice. c) Renew part of the maturity amount and get back the balance amount to his savings bank (SB) account Suppose he does not exercise any of the above options, the bank shall renew the deposit automatically for a further period as the original deposit, i.e., three years. The maturity date of the renewed deposit shall be 15 February 2018. This auto-renewal shall continue unless the depositor gives any instruction to the contrary. The deposit shall be again renewed on 15 February 2018, 15 February 2021, 15 February 2024 and so on. Here is an important question What will happen in the following circumstances? (only illustrative and not exhaustive) a) The depositor has passed away on, say, 1 March 2018? And the nominee or the legal heirs of the depositor had no information about the existence of this deposit and, hence, did not make any claim from the bank. b) A deposit in the name of a minor made by a parent, who forgets and misplaces the deposit receipt.OR the parent passes away without giving details to the minor or guardian. c) Any customer, especially a senior citizen, makes a deposit and forgets/ misplaces the deposit receipt and does not inform anyone in the family. The answer is: The bank shall go on with auto-renewal of the deposit every three years perpetually without any end. The deposit shall never become an overdue deposit and shall never be transferred to the unclaimed deposit/ DEAF. Another consequence to the issue is – If the periodical interest from the same term deposit is getting credited to the savings account of the customer, the SB account also shall never be classified as an inoperative account since the term deposit interest credit is treated as a customer-induced transaction or operation by the customer. In this case, the SB account also shall never be transferred to the unclaimed deposit in the event of the demise of the customer. Clarification from two public sector banks (PSBs) and two private sector banks confirms the following.  • There is no restriction on the number of times a deposit be auto-renewed if there is no other instruction to the contrary from the depositor. • If the bank is not informed about the depositor’s death, the deposit shall continue to be auto-renewed unless there is a claim from the legal heirs or nominee. The implications for depositors and banks The intersection of auto-renewal policies and the RBI’s instructions presents a unique scenario. If term deposits are automatically renewed without any customer intervention, they may never reach the status ‘inoperative’ of ‘unclaimed,’ even in the event of the depositor’s demise. This situation could potentially lead to funds remaining within the banking system indefinitely, without reaching the rightful owners or their heirs. A call for clarity and action The RBI’s initiatives, like the UDGAM portal, are a commendable effort to protect consumer interests and reduce the quantum of

June 13,2024 A customer has zero liability when an unauthorized transaction occurs due to a third party breach where the deficiency lies not with the bank or customer but somewhere in the system, the Bombay High Court said on Thursday while directing the Bank of Baroda to refund Rs 76 lakh debited from a company’s bank account fraudulently. A division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla was hearing a petition filed by one Jaiprakash Kulkarni and Pharma Search Ayurveda Private Limited challenging an order passed by the Banking Ombudsman refusing to direct the Bank of Baroda to refund an amount of Rs 76 lakh allegedly transferred from their account through cyber fraud. The HC bench, which cited a July 2017 circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India, also said Bank Bank of Baroda has a policy called the Consumer Protection Policy (Unauthorized Electronic Banking Transactions) that reiterates the same. Asserting this was an example of how increasingly innocent persons are becoming victims of cyber fraud, the HC said, “Both as per the RBI circular and the policy of the bank, a customer has zero liability when the unauthorized transactions occur due to a third party breach where the deficiency lies neither with the bank nor with the customer but elsewhere in the system and the customer notifies the bank regarding the unauthorized transactions within a certain time frame.” Hence, the liability of the petitioners in respect to the unauthorized transactions would be zero as the transactions have taken place due to a third party breach where the deficiency lies neither with the bank nor with the petitioners, the court said. As per the plea, on October 1, 2022, certain entities/individuals were added as beneficiaries to the petitioner company’s bank account without any OTP sent to the petitioner on the registered mobile number. A day later, on October 2, a sum of Rs 76 lakh was transferred from the petitioner’s bank account to various unknown individuals by way of online transactions. The petitioners immediately lodged a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the city police and informed the bank manager of the alleged fraud. The petitioners also sought to know from the bank the steps taken by it to refund the amount as per the directives issued by the Reserve Bank of India in its ‘Customer Protection – Limiting Liability of Customers in Unauthorized Electronic Banking Transactions’ circular of July 2017. When the petitioners did not receive the refund, they filed a complaint with the bank ombudsman, who in January 2023 rejected their complaint noting that the transactions were done post addition of beneficiaries and input of valid credentials known only to the bank account holders and, therefore, there was no deficiency/ lapse on the part of the bank. The bench referred to three reports submitted by the cyber cell police which said the beneficiaries were added to the bank account without any message or OTP received on the registered mobile number and email to the registered email account. “Thus, there was no intimation to the petitioners about adding of beneficiaries and the petitioners only received messages on the registered mobile number when the amount from the bank account was actually debited,” HC said. The bank told HC that beneficiaries could be added to a bank account only by those who have access to the bank account holders’ confidential credentials. The bank argued that the petitioners’ credentials were compromised from the petitioners’ end itself and, hence, it could not be held liable or at fault. The court said it was satisfied with the reports submitted by the cyber cell that the petitioners have not been negligent and that there is no collusion of the petitioners with the alleged fraudsters. The court said it is clear both the bank and the petitioners have been victims of fraud by third party fraudsters. The court said, as per the RBI circular, the petitioner was entitled to a refund of the amount from the bank and directed Bank of Baroda to refund the Rs 76 lakh amount to the petitioner’s bank account within six weeks. The bench also noted that the bank ombudsman did not make any proper inquiry and had merely stated the transactions were done post addition of beneficiaries. Source: Economic Times

June 14,2024 The sector regulator has amended some regulations to broaden the scope of a fund used for running activities relating to telecom consumer education and protection. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday amended regulations 6 and 13 of the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF) principal rules to enable utilisation of the fund for expenses relating to preparation, maintenance, audit of accounts, and for the participation of representatives of consumer groups attending meetings of the Committee for Utilisation of Telecommunication Consumers Education & Protection Fund (CUTCEF). The regulator, though, dismissed telcos’ call for tapping the TCEPF corpus for conducting consumer education workshops, saying operators are already arranging such consumer outreach programs regularly to improve customer experience as mandated by Trai. It also rejected industry demands for increasing the representation of telecom service providers in the CUTCEF, saying the current telco presence in the panel is adequate. Trai has also rejected telco demands of tapping the TCEPF corpus to compensate them for mandatory text message alerts, saying that such services were meant to be given free of charge to mobile users. In an accompanying explanatory memorandum, Trai said that back in 2020, Corporation Bank, in which the fund (read: TCEPF) is maintained, had been merged with Union Bank of India. Further, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, had been repealed by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Accordingly, amendments have been made to change the relevant provisions in the principal regulations. Source: Economic Times

June 28,2024 New Delhi: A deemed university is not a “public authority” which is covered in the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act unless it is under the control of or is financed by the government, the Delhi High Court has said. The court’s order was passed on a petition by an RTI applicant seeking information with respect to the details of students, including roll number, name and father’s name, who completed MSc in Chemistry through distance learning from 2007 and 2011 from Vinayak Mission University, a deemed university. The chief information commissioner (CIC) refused to provide the information on the ground that the institute was not a “public authority” and the data pertained to its internal administration. Stating that there was no reason to interfere with the decision of the CIC, Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that the RTI Actdeals with entities, including non-government organisations, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government and merely because a university has been deemed to be a university, it would not be considered a public authority under the act. “It is not the case of the Petitioner that the Respondent University is either a government authority or a non-government organisation which is substantially financed by the government, either directly or indirectly. The Respondent No. 3 university, thus, cannot be held to be a ‘public authority’ under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and will not be amenable to the provisions of the RTI Act,” the court in its order said. “It has also been recently held by a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court…that merely because a university has been deemed to be a university by virtue of a notification under Section 3 of the UGC Act, it will not be considered a public authority under the (RTI) Act,” the court recorded. The petitioner contended that being the custodian and a “public authority”, UGC should be held to be duty bound to supply the information to him. The court, however, observed that the information sought by the petitioner was “personal” in nature and exempted under the RTI Act, and he has also not shown any material to indicate what was the public interest that would outweigh the concerns of privacy. “In the absence of any larger public interest justifying the disclosure of such information, this court is not inclined to accede to the information sought for by the Petitioner,” it opined. “This court, therefore, does not find any reason to interfere with the decision of the CIC denying to give information as sought for to the petitioner on both accounts i.e., the respondent university being a deemed University is not a public authority in the absence of any material advanced by the petitioner to show that the respondent university comes under the direct control of the Government or financed by the Government, and secondly, the information sought for will result in unwarranted invasion of privacy of all the individuals concerned and without there being any larger public interest involved which will outweigh the privacy of the persons whose information has been sought for,” the court held. Source: Economic Times

June 28,2024 NEW DELHI: To prevent alcohol-related road incidents, the government has come out with a draft rules to ensure the accuracy and reliability of breath analyser equipment used by law enforcement agencies to measure alcohol concentration from breath samples. The Legal Metrology Division of the Department of Consumer Affairs has unveiled new draft rules for evidential breath analysers under the Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011, according to an official statement on Friday. As per the draft rules, which have been placed on the website for public comments until July 26, evidential breath analysers need to be verified and stamped according to the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, to ensure their accuracy. The Legal Metrology division has proposed that all the evidential breath analysers should be verified and stamped before sale/ putting into use. The equipment which are already in use need to be verified and stamped within one year. The draft rules would come into force from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette. The department said that this verification of the analysers protects individuals from wrongful penalties due to faulty equipment and helps maintain the integrity of legal and workplace policies. “This initiative aims to ensure the accuracy and reliability of breath analysers used by law enforcement and workplaces, thereby enhancing public safety and trust,” it added. The Verified and standardised evidential breath analysers would accurately measure blood alcohol concentration from breath samples, ensuring that intoxicated individuals are identified swiftly and effectively. This would help prevent alcohol-related incidents on the road, contributing to safer travel for everyone. “The new rules require evidential breath analysers to follow standardised testing procedures, ensuring consistent and reliable results across different devices. This standardisation fosters public confidence in the fairness and accuracy of enforcement actions,” the department said. Evidential breath analysers provide a non-invasive way to measure blood alcohol content, offering quick and painless sample collection. The rapid analysis capabilities allow law enforcement officers to make swift, informed decisions, enhancing the effectiveness of roadside checks. “The availability of stamped and verified evidential breath analysers to the public can raise awareness about the effects of alcohol on impairment and the legal limits for safe operation of vehicles and machinery. This encourages responsible behaviour and informed decision-making,” the department said. The draft rules define “evidential breath analyser” as an instrument that measures and displays the breath alcohol mass concentration of exhaled human breath within specified error limits and is applicable to those types of evidential breath analysers that use mouthpieces for sampling the breath. The rules provide for various types of tests to ensure, the correctness of the instrument. The yearly verification will ensure the accuracy of this instrument during use. The draft rules have also outlined several technical requirements for evidential breath analysers, such as displaying only the final measurement result; the inclusion of a printer to record results and ensuring the device does not operate without paper. The proposed rules also necessitate providing additional printed information along with the blood alcohol concentration result as well as reporting results in different formats, such as blood alcohol concentration in blood. The new draft rules represent a significant step towards improving road safety and enforcement reliability. “By ensuring that evidential breath analysers are accurate, standardised, and easy to use, these rules will benefit the public through better enforcement, increased safety, and enhanced trust in legal and workplace alcohol testing,” the department said, adding that it remains committed to safeguarding public welfare through rigorous standards and reliable measurement instruments. Source: Economic Times

June 05,2024 New Delhi, Certain sectors including beauty products, personal care, consumer electronics and consumer durables may face a tempering of growth, according to a report from consulting firm Deloitte. The decline is on account of the high volume of purchases post-pandemic that have created a high base for FY25, according to Deloitte’s “Future of Retail” report. The report also highlighted a significant shift in consumer spending patterns with a rise in value-seeking buyers, which is evident across consumer businesses. While the consumer may increase their spending on leisure activities, suggesting a good performance for the aviation and hotel industries in FY2024-25, it added. “Yet the growth in premium products has outpaced entry-level products in several sectors, including electronics and personal care. Companies will benefit from understanding the preferences of their customers for premium products and using them to drive growth,” it said. Based on the survey, the report said a large section of customers across sectors reported that replacement purchases would be a significant driver for purchases in FY25. It has suggested the companies “capitalise on this trend to retain their loyal customer base and encourage replacements where product performance or perceived value of products is expected to improve by replacement or upgrades”. The report further said Indian retailers can achieve an incremental growth of between 8-20 per cent by sweating their investments in customer, product, channel and experience despite a plateauing demand scenario. The key challenge and opportunity for retailers would be to grow like-for-like businesses by maximising the potential of existing assets and investments. “In our experience, through the execution of the right interventions, businesses can achieve incremental like-forlike growth ranging between 8 to 20%,” it said. Source: Economic Times

June 19,2024 Last quarter’s robust economic momentum, which lifted India’s GDP to a world-beating 8.2% rate of expansion in FY24, has continued into the first quarter of the current fiscal, buttressed by several growth drivers, (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said Tuesday. “April and May are over. At Reserve Bank, we have data for June also… we see the momentum is well-sustained and we are, therefore, quite sanguine and optimistic that the (growth) projection we have given for the first quarter of this year – at 7.3% – will indeed be 7.3%,” Das said at an event organised by television channel ET Now on Tuesday. He said several indicators provided evidence of resilient growth momentum, including higher demand for consumer goods in rural areas and a resumption of much-awaited- evidenced through an increase in the size and number of fixed assets. Das also expressed optimism in India’s external metrics, saying that the current account deficit for the previous year could potentially narrow to less than 1% of GDP. “In the first three quarters of 2023-24, the current account deficit was 1.2% (of GDP),” Das said. “Our teams are working on the fourth quarter numbers. They look to be even lower, and when you look at the annual current account deficit number, I will not be surprised next week when we publish the current account deficit numbers – they could be even lower than 1% (of GDP),” he said at the ET Now event. While emphasising India’s firm growth trajectory, Das said there was no room for complacency on inflation, given that the last mile of bringing consumer prices firmly down to the RBI’s 4% target was turning out to be “sticky, arduous and very slow.” Consumer Price Index inflation was at 4.75% in May. Pointing out that food inflation has been near 8% for six to seven months, Das said supply-side factors and extreme weather events had exerted an impact on food prices. In response to a query on when the RBI may change the current monetary policy stance of withdrawal of accommodation, Das emphasised the balancing act the central bank was playing on growth and inflation. “If you expect a faster moderation of inflation, then we have to take much more drastic measures in terms of stance, in terms of rate,” Das said. “But then we have to also weigh what will be the growth sacrifice that we would be making.” Speaking at the same event, Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India (SBI), said the ability to source deposits across geographies and products will be the key differentiator for banks, going ahead. “There cannot be an excess liquidity situation. The RBI has maintained adequate liquidity in the system,” Khara said. “Our ability to source deposits across geographies and across multiple products is going to be the differentiator.” The bank will expand its asset book in green financing to make up 7.5% of such loans in its advances by 2030, Khara said. He expects the bank’s return on assets to improve to 1.10% by the end of this fiscal, from 1% at the end of March 2024. Khara reiterated that the bank has enough capital to ensure a 20% growth in loans. “In the past few years, we have ploughed back ₹1.10 lakh crore from profits and our CET 1 ratio is the highest in a decade. At the current levels we can grow our loans by another ₹7 lakh crore, or 20%, so capital is not an issue. The bank has built enough muscle for growth,” Khara said. Common Equity Tier 1, or CET1, is a protectionary capital measure introduced last decade to prevent banking collapses through precipitate business cycles. Source: Economic Times

June 24,2024 New Delhi, Observing that there was negligence and deficiency in services by the Indian Railway, a consumer commission here has directed its general manager concerned to pay more than ₹1.08 lakh to a passenger whose luggage was stolen during a journey. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission was hearing the complaint which said the passenger’s bag containing valuables worth ₹80,000 was stolen by some unauthorised passengers in January 2016 between Jhansi and Gwalior when he was travelling in a reserved coach of the Malwa Express. “It was the duty of the railways for safe, secure and comfortable journey as well as safety and security of belongings of passengers,” the complaint said. The commission, comprising its president Inder Jeet Singh and member Rashmi Bansal, said it had the territorial jurisdiction to try the case as the complainant boarded the train from New Delhi and there was “a continuity of the journey” till its arrival in Indore. Besides, the office of the opposite party was situated within the commission’s jurisdiction, it said in an order passed on June 3. The commission rejected the argument of the railways that the complainant was negligent about her belongings and that the luggage was not booked. Noting that the complainant was made to “run from pillar to post to register an FIR”, the commission said, “The manner in which the episode has happened and valuables were stolen followed by the efforts of the complainant to get the FIR registered with the authorities for appropriate enquiry or investigation, she suffered all kind of inconvenience and harassment to pursue her legal rights.” It said the complainant had established her case against the Indian Railway for negligence and deficiency in service as her belongings kept in a bag were stolen during her journey against reserved ticket. “Had there been no negligence or deficiency in services on the part of the opposite party or its staff, there would be no such incident. There is no other defence or evidence to deny the value of the articles being carried by the complainant during her journey, therefore, the complainant is held entitled to reimbursement of loss of ₹80,000,” the commission said. It also awarded her ₹20,000 as damages for suffering inconvenience, harassment and mental agony besides ₹8,000 towards litigation cost. Source: Hindustan Times

June 24,2024 An advertisement is considered misleading when it misleads people from reality and influences their behaviour toward purchasing a product or service from the market. Recently, the Supreme Court took a step to stop misleading ads by advertising agencies. As per the Indian Medical Associations & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors. 2022, Advertising companies must provide a self-declaratory certificate to the competent authority before any content (Advertisement) is displayed, as per the Supreme Court’s directive. Now, advertising agencies and media have to file a self-advertising form to ensure that the content is not misleading in any way. On June 3, 2024, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in compliance with a Supreme Court directive, announced new regulations requiring a self-declaration certificate (SDC) to be submitted before the publication or broadcast of any content. This mandate, effective from June 18, 2024, stipulates that all advertising agencies must file their SDCs via the Broadcast Seva Portal managed by the Ministry. Meant for print and digital media, the SDCs are to be give in to through the Press Council of India’s portal. Ads play a pivotal role in establishing a brand in the market. However, they become problematic when they contain false information and manipulate customers’ emotions by providing misleading information about the brand. An evaluation done through the Advertising Standards Council of India in the year 2023-24 on 8,299 advertisements found that around 81% fell into the category of misleading advertisements, with 94% of the infringements identified through proactive monitoring. Online platforms also play a crucial role in spreading misleading advertisements because a large population is connected to social media and consumes content through fake news articles or social media posts. Influencers and celebrities in India also spread misleading advertisements. A survey conducted by the community media social media platform LocalCircles found that during the pandemic, an average of 70% of Indians encountered misleading advertisements through social media or various online sources. After watching these advertisements, they often purchase the products or services of the particular brand being advertised. Patanjali claimed during the COVID-19 pandemic that its medicine “Coronil” was sufficient to cure COVID-19 and was certified and approved by the World Health Organization. However, later the WHO denied this claim and criticized it. Following this, while attacking the medical pharma industry, Patanjali made claims about several diseases, asserting that its medicines were sufficient, well-suited, and could cure them completely. Patanjali’s dispute began in 2022, when the company ran a poster named “Misconceptions Spread by Allopathy: Save Yourself and the Country from Misconceptions Spread through the Pharma and Medical Industry.” In this advertisement, Patanjali claimed that its medicines are scientifically proven to cure various diseases and asserted that allopathic medicine has severe side effects. Following this event, the Indian Medical Association sent a 1000 crore defamation notice under Section 499 of IPC (Indian Penal Code 1860) in the month of May 2022. After this, the Indian Medical Association filed a petition before the Supreme Court about the disparaging advertisement in August 2022. In the first hearing in November 2023, the Supreme Court warned and threatened Patanjali against using terms like “permanent relief” in the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954, to sell its products. Earlier, Patanjali gave assurance that they would not publish such misleading advertisements in the future. This undertaking was recorded by the court in its order. However, the company continues to publish misleading advertisements related to medicinal cures. Upon prima facie observation that Patanjali has infringed on the undertaking, the court issued a contempt of court notice for violation of court order and asked them to file a reply within two weeks. The court also cautioned them against making any statements adverse to any system of medicine in any form. After the company failed to respond to the contempt of court notice, the Supreme Court issued a summons on March 19, requiring Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna to appear personally before the court. On March 21, Balkrishna, the company’s managing director, issued an unequivocal apology. The supreme court warned Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna about disobeying the law and scolded them for their “absolute defiance” in failing to file a suitable affidavit in response to the deceptive ads in a follow-up hearing on April 2. The Supreme Court rejected their apologies and directed them to provide an affidavit within a week. On April 15, the apex court suspended the manufacturing licenses of 14 products of Patanjali Ayurvedic Ltd. and Divya Pharmacy under Rule 159(1) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1954, with immediate effect, and ordered the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority to file an affidavit by April 29. The apex court judgment on 7 May 2024, in this case is significant since it directed the Centre to notify all advertising companies to give in a self-declaration certificate prior to broadcast any type of advertisement online or in print. Additionally, celebrities and influencers are equally liable for promoting and endorsing misleading advertisements online. This case played a pivotal role in strengthening current regulations and striking against various giant companies that mislead consumers in the name of authenticity. This case opened the door for legislation to frame new rules and guidelines to tackle real-world problems and protect consumers’ rights Source: Livelaw