Photos of President, PM, CJI may feature in government advertisements: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Decrying "personality cult" as an anti-thesis of democracy, the Supreme Court today barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi approved the suggestions given by a three-member committee on regulation of public advertisements, barring a few exceptions.

It rejected the stand of the central government that judiciary should not encroach into government policies and executive decisions and said that they can step in if there is no policy or law in place.

Acknowledging the fact that advertisements do contain pictures of politicians, the bench said, "...photographs, therefore, 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."

"The legitimate and permissible object of an advertisement can always be achieved without publication of the photograph of any particular functionary either in the state of a political party.

"We are, therefore, of the view that in departure to the views of the Committee which recommended permissibility of publication of the photographs of the President and Prime Minister of the country and Governor or Chief Minister of the State along with the advertisements, there should be an exception only in the case of President, PM and Chief Justice of country who may themselves decide the question," it said.

The apex court also directed the central government to constitute a three-member committee "consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality" to regulate the issue of public advertisements and rejected the plea that it should be done by the court itself.