Supreme Court limits photos in central ads to President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that advertisements issued by the government to highlight its achievements could only carry the photos of three constitutional functionaries: the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. But it refused to place any curbs on ad spending during election seasons.

The court issued the orders on two PILs that drew its attention to the alleged misuse of public funds to project individual functionaries of the government or a political party.

The petitioners argued such ads, in the garb of communicating with the people, sought to confer undue political advantage, crediting specific individuals as being responsible for various government achievements and progressive plans. They had urged the court to curb excessive spending on such ads during election time.



The court had set up a three-member committee, headed by Madhava Menon, ex-director of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, to suggest ways to end this practice. The other members were ex-Lok Sabha Secretary General TK Viswanathan and senior advocate and now Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar.

The panel had suggested that such ads should not mention the party in power, attack the opposition, carry any party logo, try to influence public support to a party or have links to websites of politicians. It suggested limiting such spending on poll time and had said only photos of the President, PM, CMs or governors should be published.