Obviously in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order restricting the faces of political leaders on Government advertisements, the Odisha Government has taken a decision of removing the image of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from the screens of the laptops distributed free to meritorious college students by the Department of Higher Education. The laptops were carrying the CM’s photo on their home screens to promote the leader’s image.
The move came after the Department of Information Technology sought the view of the Department of Higher Education (DoHE) over using of CM’s photo on laptop screens in view of the apex court’s verdict that restricted the both the Centre and State Governments from using the photos of the leaders including the CMs and other State Ministers except the President, the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of India and the Prime Minister on the Government advertisements.
Sources said the DoHE had sought the opinion from legal experts in this matter. Following a broad discussion, the department decided to write the Biju Empowerment Yojana both in English and Odia languages instead of using the CM’s photo on the laptop screens.
The decision has also delayed in the distribution of laptops to students. Following the directives by the DoHE around 1.5 months would be required to provide laptops, which the State Government has been distributing free to meritorious students since 2013. In the first two years each, 15,000 laptops were given to students. last year, the cost of a laptop was above `21,000. However, the amount is less than `20,000 this year.