Supreme Court relents, allows photos of CMs and ministers in govt ads

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the publication of photographs of chief ministers, state ministers as well as Union Cabinet ministers in government advertisements to promote achievements or programmes. It also allowed use of governors’ photographs.

Earlier, on May 13 last year, the court had held that only the photographs of the President, PM and CJI could be published in government advertisements, and not those of Union ministers, CMs and other state ministers. A review of this order had been sought by the Centre as well as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Assam. It was argued that if the publication of the photograph of the PM was allowed, there was no reason why photos of other Union ministers and state CMs should not be allowed. It was argued that displaying only the PM’s photos in advertisements could lead to the development of a personality cult, which was not good for democracy. A two-member bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Pinaki Chandra Ghose has now modified the court’s 2015 order.