New Delhi [India], August 6 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the recent Madras High Court order restraining the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government from using the names and photographs of current and former chief ministers in advertisements for state welfare schemes.
A bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on AIADMK Member of Parliament, C Ve Shanmugam, who had filed the initial plea in the Madras High Court. It asked the Tamil Nadu government to use the amount in a state scheme for the welfare of the underprivileged.
The top court also dismissed the writ petition pending before the High Court.
"Time and again, we have observed that political battles should be settled before the electoral roll and courts should not be used for this," said CJI Gavai.
The order of the top court came on a plea filed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and the Tamil Nadu Government against the High Court order.
The High Court in its interim order had restrained the use of the name and photograph of any living individual, photographs of former Chief Ministers and ideological leaders, or the display of any party insignia for government welfare schemes.
The top court also criticised the conduct of AIADMK MP Shanmugam in singling out only the scheme of the TN government in his challenge when such schemes in the names of leaders were common across the country.
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and P Wilson, appearing for DMK and Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing the state government, told the bench that during the term of AIADMK, several schemes were carried out in the name of leaders.
The bench observed, "The planting of schemes in the name of political leaders is a phenomenon which is followed across the country. When such schemes are floated in the name of all leaders of political parties, we do not appreciate the anxiety of the petitioner to choose only one political party and one political leader. If the petitioner was so concerned about the misuse of political funds, the petitioner could have made a challenge to all such schemes. However, singling out only one political leader shows the intentions of the petitioner."
On July 31, the Madras High Court had restrained the Tamil Nadu government from using the name of any living personality in the nomenclature of new or re-branded public schemes to be introduced in the future.
It had also prohibited the use of portraits of any former Chief Minister/ideological leaders or Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) insignia/emblem/flag in the advertisements issued for popularising those schemes.
AIADMK MP Shanmugam had approached the High Court seeking directions to restrain the state from naming welfare schemes after living political personalities or using their photos, as well as party logos or symbols in promotional materials. He had challenged the naming and promotion of the state's public outreach initiative titled 'Ungaludan Stalin'.
He contended that a new scheme was being launched using the current Chief Minister's name, images of ideological leaders, and the ruling party's (DMK's) symbols, in violation of Supreme Court guidelines and the 2014 Government Advertisement (Content Regulation) Guidelines.
The High Court in its interim order had observed that, according to the Supreme Court's earlier judgement, publishing the photograph of the current Chief Minister is permitted. It, however, said that using images of ideological leaders or former Chief Ministers is prima facie contrary to the court's directives.