Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking use of red ant chutney for preventing Covid-19 infection

By - Nivedita Tiwari*

The Petitioner Nayadhar Padhilal, had filed a writ petition before the High Court of Orissa. He is an engineer by profession and belongs to the Bathudi Tribal Adivasi community. He contended that Kaai (Kutuki) Chutney (paste) which is prepared by using red ants, mixed with green chilly is a potent medicine that can boost the immunity system and it can prevent the infection of COVID-19.  

When his representations to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) were not considered, the petitioner filed a writ petition, which was disposed of by the order of the Orissa High Court with a direction to CSIR, and ICMR to decide on his representation.

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The Ministry of Ayush, Government of India as well as the CSIR had taken consideration of the same. The CSIR stated that it does not have the required expertise in the domain of entomophagy and therefore would not be able to pursue any action on the matter.

The Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences noted that it could not find any reference from the classical books of Ayurveda mentioned in the First schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 on the internal use of red ant chutney so as to validate it as an Ayurveda medicine and hence the use of red ant chutney or the soup for treating COVID-19 patients is out of the purview of the Ayurveda drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945.  

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The Petitioner insisted that both the Ministry of Ayush as well as CSIR ought to have referred the matter to some other body of experts. The Court rejected the plea and stated that the matter is best left for the decision by specialised bodies like CSIR and Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, as they have several experts.

The petitioner approached the Supreme Court and the bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud stated that the entire country cannot be asked to use chutney as a cure for COVID-19. The Petitioner can use it, but as a Constitutional Court, it cannot ask people to start consuming red ant chutney for treatment of COVID-19. There is no scientific evidence to prove that it is beneficial to protect people against the pandemic.  

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The counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Anirudha Sanganeria argued that the Ministry of Ayush and CSIR have refused to entertain his client’s request without referring the matter to the experts who could examine the claim by using scientific methods. 

The bench rejected this submission and stated that their claims were already considered by the Ministry of Ayush and CSIR. The Court even advised the petitioner to get vaccinated and to not rely totally on red ant chutney.

CLICK HERE TO READ ORDER.

*Nivedita Tiwari is a 3^rd year student pursuing B.A.LL.B. from SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Sonepat.