Supreme Court to hear pleas for pictures of CMs on advertisements

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear in an open court on September 14 a batch of petitions filed by various states on the direction that only photographs of Prime Minister, President and Chief Justice of India can be published in official media advertisements and not those of Chief Ministers.

A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant, which had passed the original directions on May 13, after perusing the petitions of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Assam posted them for further hearing in open court on September 14.

The four states filed the review petitions challenging the May 13 direction as being discriminatory and erroneous since it has permitted the photograph of the Prime Minister but not the Chief Ministers who too are elected representatives of the people.

The states pointed out that the expert panel had recommended display of photos of CMs/Governors as well, but the apex court had restrained the states from displaying photos CMs and Guvs.  

They said, “There is nothing wrong if the publication issued by the government highlighting the achievements of the government contains photographs of Chief Minister and other ministers.”

The petition said, “The government is the guardian of the finances of the state...The court does not have the expertise to correct the administrative decision. If a review of the decision is permitted, it will be substituting its own decision.”