Supreme Court restrained the photos of politicians on government ads
The court said that publishing picture of political personalities has the potential to create personality cult in the country which should not be permitted. The court restrained the Centre and state governments from publishing pictures of ministers, chief minister, and president of ruling political parties in government advertisements.
The apex court ruled that only pictures of the President, the PM and the Chief Justice of India would be published in government advertisements. With Wednesday's order, the pictures of other functionaries would not figure in government advertisements.
As an exception to this general rule, the court held that the photos of only three constitutional authorities - Prime Minister, President and Chief Justice of India - can be used in such ads. But for that too, the personal approval of these three authorities need to be got before publication.
A bench, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said that the government should not be allowed to use public money for unproductive expenditure like giving advertisements for political gains. The bench, however, refused to pass order restraining the government from giving ads six months prior to elections.
The SC directed the Centre to appoint a three-member committee to oversee that public money is not misused by the government in giving advertisements.
