The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre, Bharatiya Janata Party and six states on a petition which alleged that they had violated the court’s directions on public advertisements. A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked them to file their responses within four weeks on a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Sanjeev Jha from Burari constituency in Delhi, PTI reported.
The top court issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Only Telangana is not ruled by the BJP.
The petitioner also sought a direction from the top court that a committee constituted on this issue by the Centre should be asked to take cognisance of these alleged violations and initiate appropriate proceedings against them.
In 2015, the Supreme Court issued directions regulating the content and expenditure on government advertisements, reported Caravan. The court had said that government advertising campaigns “should be related to government responsibilities” and the “materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner.”
It also said that a government advertisement campaign should “not be directed at promoting political interests of a party.”
On March 18, 2016, the top court modified its order and said that pictures of Union ministers, chief ministers, governors and state ministers can appear in government advertisements.
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