The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to all the states and Union Territories seeking their response to the earlier order banning display of photographs of chief ministers in the state government advertisements. By an order dated May 13, a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant had held that only photographs of Prime Minister, President and Chief Justice of India can be published in official media advertisements and not those of chief ministers.
This order was sought to be reviewed by the states of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Assam and the bench last decided to hear them in open court. On Monday, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for West Bengal, submitted that this was a serious issue concerning the states which required to be heard after notice to all the states. The bench agreed and issued notice to the states as well as to the original petitioners seeking their response and posted the matter for further hearing on October 13. The states pointed out that the expert panel had recommended display of photos of chief ministers/governors as well but the top court had restrained the states from displaying photos of chief ministers/governors. They said “there is nothing wrong if the publication issued by the government highlighting the achievements of the government contains photographs of the chief minister and other ministers if they have made contribution to the achievements of the state government”.
The Judgment is completely silent regarding the exclusion of the Chief Minister who is the head of the State Government. If the photograph of the prime minister is permitted on the publication/ advertisement then the photographs of the chief minister must have also been permitted by this Court.”
They said “government is the guardian of the finances of the State and the Government takes its decisions as to how the finances are to be utilised. The court does not sit as a court of appeal but merely reviews the manner in which the decision was made . The court does not have the expertise to correct the administrative decision. If a review of the administrative decision is permitted it will be substituting its own decision, without the necessary expertise which itself may be fallible.” Hence the petitions sought a review of the judgment banning display of CM in government advertisements.
