The Madras High Court on Tuesday declined to direct authorities to display the portrait of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam alone and remove that of the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, from government offices.
It is for the government to decide on the display of portraits of leaders and personalities. The court cannot issue a directive in the matter, a Division Bench comprising Justices V.Dhanapalan and V.M.Velumani observed.
However, the court suggested to the State to look into issues of this kind by taking a definite policy on the portrait display. The policy may be followed with uniformity to avoid any difficulty in the government offices.
The Bench passed the order on a public interest litigation petition by S.Karunanidhi, an advocate, who said the portrait of Ms. Jayalalithaa, who was convicted in a case, had not been removed from State government offices. After the conviction, she was no longer the Chief Minister or an MLA. The portrait of Mr. Panneerselvam was nowhere to be seen in the State, except in private albums. Petitioner’s counsel contended that the practice in the past should be followed by keeping the portrait of the present Chief Minister alone.
The government countered that there could not be a directive to the government on policy matters. Placing reliance on a G.O. of June 2006, Advocate-General A.L.Somayaji said that as regards display of portraits of national leaders and eminent personalities, a decision had been taken. Hence, the petitioner could not demand removal of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s photo.
In his order, Mr.Justice Dhanapalan said that when the government’s policy was to display various leaders, which included former Chief Ministers and the present Chief Minister, the petitioner’s grievance could not be allowed to stand. The matter of display of portraits was well within the government’s domain, he added.
