Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff have responded to show-cause notices issued by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over a Vimal Elaichi advertisement, FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said on Tuesday.
Mundhe said two of the three actors also sought a hearing before the FDA, with both hearings completed on Monday. He did not disclose which two actors had requested the hearings.
All three actors respond to FDA notices
Speaking at a press conference, Mundhe confirmed that replies had been received from all three actors.
"Regarding those notices, responses from all three have come. Two of them had asked for a hearing. Their hearing was finished yesterday, and we are proceeding further," he said.
When asked to identify the two actors who sought hearings, Mundhe said they were “those who wanted it”.
The latest development comes weeks after the FDA had said that one of the actors had not responded to the notices.
FDA had earlier called actors 'violators'
Earlier this month, Mundhe had said that one of the three actors had failed to respond and that the FDA had begun adjudication and prosecution proceedings against that individual.
Speaking to NDTV, Mundhe had said, “According to you, they may be stars, but according to me, they are only advertisers in this case. So I am looking at them as violators of the law, and the law will take its own course. That's why we have started taking action. We have taken this action as per the law.”
When asked specifically whether Shah Rukh Khan had replied, Mundhe said, “I don't exactly remember... because that is with the assistant commissioner. Most likely, he has not responded, but I'm not too sure about it.”
Why did FDA issue the notices?
The Maharashtra FDA issued the notices on August 11 over an advertisement featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff promoting Vimal Elaichi.
The regulator alleged that the advertisement amounted to surrogate promotion of Vimal Pan Masala, which is prohibited in Maharashtra. The actors were given 15 days to respond.
The notices cited Section 24 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which deals with misleading advertisements. Section 53 of the Act provides for a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for publishing or being involved in the publication of a misleading food advertisement.
Mundhe has also maintained that advertisers have a responsibility to carry out due diligence before endorsing products, and that responsibility does not rest solely with the manufacturer.