Govt to discuss draft bill to punish celebs for endorsing misleading products

After the Ministry of Consumer Affairs prepared a draft bill, which seeks celebrities to be punished for endorsing misleading products, an internal-ministerial panel chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will discuss the draft today, a Hindustan Times report said.

Jaitley will be joined by Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan, Health Minister JP Nadda, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the report said.

According to the draft bill, for the first offence (promoting substandard products) by celebrities can lead them to a fine of Rs 10 lakh and jail for up to two years. Subsequent offences can lead them to fine of Rs 50 lakh and maximum five years jail, the report added.

As per the report, last year in August, the government had introduced Consumer Protection Bill 2015. Following the introduction, a parliamentary standing committee suggested recommendations in April including penalizing celebrities for promoting misleading products.

The decision came in after in April, India's one-day cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended his endorsement contract with real estate firm Amrapali, when the company failed to finish the construction work on the promised time causing difficulties to the residents.

The HT report quoted Paswan saying, "If an advertisement says a person can get taller in six months using this particular product (sic). Is it possible? Celebrities should use a common sense approach".