Ramdev's trust accused of running a club, slapped Rs 12 crore service tax

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth and Divya Yog Mandir Trust have been charged of running a club under the grab of a trust. The Director General Of Central Excise Intelligence has imposed a service tax of Rs 12 crore on Ramdev's trust after alleging that it was actually running a club.

The DGCEI has revealed that Divya Yog Mandir Trust and the Yogpeeth have earned Rs 15 crore profit from the membership fee. The DGCEI has also issued showcause notices to Ramdev and his associate Acharya Balkrishna.

Ramdev has also been accused of irregularities in the labelling of some of the food products marketed by Divya Yog Mandir Trust. Citing a report of Rudrapur-based Food and Drug Testing Laboratory in this regard, Haridwar District Magistrate Sachin Kurve had said in September that irregularities have been found in the labelling of six food products marketed by the Trust.

The DGCEI has revealed that Divya Yog Mandir Trust and the Yogpeeth have earned Rs 15 crore profit from the membership fee.

The alleged regulatory violations by the Trust have been categorised as "misleading" and "misbranding" against labels. However, the Trust denied the claims. The six sampled food products in which irregularities have been found are salt, mustard oil, honey, black pepper, pineapple jam and Arogya Besan.

Citing the findings of the laboratory, Kurve said, "It states that the product is manufactured elsewhere while claims of purity have been made by brand Patanjali, which becomes misleading." However, the report does not comment on the quality of the products and cites only alleged violations of regulatory requirements in their labelling.

State food security department had taken samples of six food products allegedly manufactured and marketed by the Yoga guru's Trust in August and sent them to the Rudrapur-based food and drug testing laboratory.

However, denying any attempt to mislead the consumers, president of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd SK Patra said, "No company manufactures salt. It is made on the sea shore. All companies buy it and then brand it

With additional information from PTI

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