Advocating parity in federal structure the Uttar Pradesh government is all set to challenge Supreme Court order banning chief ministers’ photographs on advertisements highlighting government achievements. “The Indian constitution talks about parity in federal structure. At Centre there is President who acts under the advise of Prime Minister and his council of ministers. Similarly in state, same role is transferred to Governor and Chief Minister. If pictures of President of India and Prime Minister are allowed in Government advertisements at Central level, same principle should be applicable to the state,” Additional Advocate General Gaurav Bhatia told reporters here on Monday.
Supreme Court in its order of May 13 had banned use of pictures of Chief Ministers and other ministers in government advertisements. Bhatia said there should be parity in federal structure. “Based on this principle, pictures of the Governor and the Chief Minister should also be allowed in the advertisements issued by the state government,” Bhatia said. The Advocate General said that State Government is looking at the legal options to challenge the Supreme Court order. “As of now, there in vacation in Supreme Court, but we are exploring legal remedies and are preparing a draft petition,” Bhatia said.
If Uttar Pradesh decides to challenge the Supreme Court order it would be the second state after Tamil Nadu that has raised reservation over the Supreme Court verdict. The Tamil Nadu government moved the Supreme Court on May 20 for a review of the order. In its review petition, the TN government stated that the judgement had violated the Constitutional right of equality before law “The Supreme Court has set up a committee that has set the guidelines for the states in this regard. The said committee has also recommended that States should be allowed to use photographs of Chief Minister and Governors in the Government advertisements,” Bhatia said and added: “We are also looking into the recommendations in detail and would include these in our petition.”
On May 13, a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and P C Ghose had stated that publishing photographs of politicians, and associating them with government policy and its achievement, could develop personality cult in the country which was a direct antithesis of democratic functioning and should not be allowed. With the court permitting only the photographs of the President, the Prime Minister and the CJI in government advertisements, pictures of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his ministers had to be dropped from government advertisements in media and other public places released thereafter. The regulations issued by the Supreme Court apply to all media — print, broadcast, billboards and internet.