Ajay Devgn has challenged a show cause notice from the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration over his appearance in advertisements for Vimal Elaichi, and the matter is listed for hearing in the Bombay High Court on 4 November. The Maharashtra FDA has said its own adjudication process will continue in the meantime, setting up two tracks that will run at the same time: a court hearing and a departmental process.
Bollywood Hungama reported on 2 November that the legal proceedings involving Ajay Devgn over the Vimal Elaichi endorsement are set to continue, with the FDA maintaining that its adjudication will move forward even though the actor has approached the High Court. The report places the case in a wider debate about celebrity endorsements and products that regulators say are promoted through surrogate branding.
Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe stated the department’s position to ANI. He said, “Even if the concerned person has moved the High Court, we have already started adjudicating proceedings and will proceed in accordance with the law.” The quote leaves little room for doubt about the FDA’s plan: the department will not pause its process simply because a petition has been filed.
Ajay Devgn and the FDA proceedings
According to the FDA, an investigation by the Assistant Commissioner has been completed, with the authority concluding that statutory violations had occurred. The matter has now been referred to the Joint Commissioner for formal adjudication, Bollywood Hungama reported. The proceedings are expected to continue unless the court issues an order restraining the department from taking further action.
The notices were issued under Sections 24 and 53 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which deal with misleading advertisements and the penalties linked to them. The FDA has raised concerns that advertisements for flavoured cardamom under the Vimal brand could function as surrogate promotion for Vimal Pan Masala and gutkha. The manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of those products are prohibited under the relevant state food safety rules, according to the report.
Ajay Devgn is not the only actor named in the proceedings. Show cause notices were also issued to Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over their appearances in promotional campaigns for Vimal Elaichi. The three actors were named together, and the FDA’s concern applies to the brand identity shared across the campaigns, rather than to one advertisement alone.
What Ajay Devgn argues in court
In his petition before the Bombay High Court, Ajay Devgn has described the FDA’s action as arbitrary, according to Bollywood Hungama. His plea argues that enforcement liability should rest with the manufacturing company rather than with brand ambassadors. It also states that his contractual association was limited to cardamom products and that his involvement in the promotional campaign has since ended.
A second report, from The Indus Pulse, gives more detail on the petition. It says the plea was filed through counsel Parag Khandhar and Chandrima Mitra of law firm DSK Legal, and that it contends the notice was wrongly addressed to Ajay Devgn as an actor rather than to the manufacturing company. The report also says the petition argues that the action violates procedures under the Food Safety and Standards Advertising and Claims Regulations of 2018.
The Indus Pulse report adds that Ajay Devgn replied to the FDA on 21 August, maintaining that his commercial involvement was restricted to flavoured elaichi and did not amount to an endorsement of prohibited pan masala. The notices themselves were served on 11 August, according to that report, which cites The Times of India. Those dates set the sequence: notice in August, reply later in August, and a court petition after the department moved toward adjudication.
The hearing on 4 November
The matter is scheduled to be heard on 4 November by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh C. Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna, Bollywood Hungama reported. The Indus Pulse report names the same bench and the same date, with the Chief Justice named as Mahesh Chandra Tripathi. The hearing will take place while the FDA continues its adjudication process, so the court and the department could be moving on the same questions in parallel.
Why the case matters beyond one advertisement
Until then, both tracks remain open. The FDA will proceed with adjudication before the Joint Commissioner, and the Bombay High Court will hear Ajay Devgn’s challenge to the notice. No final decision on the notice, and no penalty, has been reported so far.