Henceforth, photographs of the Prime Minister, the President and the Chief Justice of India alone can be published in advertisements issued by the Centre or State Governments or Ministries under them.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered the landmark verdict aimed at stopping “politically motivated” advertisements that drained the public exchequer of vital funds being diverted to glorify political parties and individuals. These ads could be in print, electronic and digital (internet) forms.
To ensure compliance, the Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and PC Ghose directed the Centre to constitute a three-member Committee as an Ombudsman to report violation of these norms. Such persons must be impartial and of unimpeachable neutrality, it added.
Dealing with a set of PIls which challenged the unregulated power of the Centre and states to issue advertisements at public expense, the Court was of the view that the aim of Government advertisements is to spread awareness of Government policies but also of the achievements made, targets to be reached, and rights and entitlements of citizens through host of welfare schemes.
Photographs of an individual, be it a State or party functionary “have the potential of developing the personality cult and the image of a one or a few individuals which is a direct antithesis of democratic functioning”, said the Court.
However, the rule would not be applicable to ads to commemorate anniversaries of “acknowledged personalities” like Mahatma Gandhi where the photograph of the departed father of the nation would be carried.
leaving it open to heads of executive, legislature and judiciary — President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India respectively — to publish their photographs, the bench said, “The dividing line between permissible advertisements that are part of government messaging and advertisements that are politically motivated may at times get blurred.”
To overcome this situation, the bench had constituted a three-member committee comprising Director of National Judicial Academy NK Madhava Menon, former lok Sabha Secretary General TK Vishwanathan, and Solicitor General Ranjeet Kumar.
Not all suggestions of the Committee were approved by Court as the panel recommended for photos of Governor and Chief Minister also to be published in Government advertisements. The Court even rejected the Committee’s proposal for public audit and bar on release of advertisements on the eve of elections.
The Court even urged Governments not to patronise any particular media house and stressed the Government to adopt fairness in dispensing ads to all newspapers on an equal basis to ensure “independence, impartiality, and neutrality” of the fourth estate.