AIADMK’s mega plans prompt Supreme Court plea

Tamil Nadu was the first State to seek a review of the May 13 judgment in which the Supreme Court had said use of leaders’ images tended to create a "personality cult."

Updated - November 17, 2021 02:01 am IST - Chennai:

Why did the Tamil Nadu government move quickly to > file a petition for review of the recent Supreme Court order barring the use of the pictures of Chief Ministers in government advertisements?

Sources in the government say officers are anticipating the introduction of new schemes after Ms. Jayalalithaa takes over as Chief Minister, with the swearing-in expected on Saturday.

The swift review petition, moved in the apex court on Tuesday, assumes significance as these schemes may require publicity centred on the Chief Minister’s image, and the verdict may be a dampener on the regime’s plans.

Tamil Nadu was the first State to seek a review of the May 13 judgment in which the Supreme Court had said use of leaders’ images tended to create a “personality cult”. It termed personal glorification at the expense of public money as “the direct antithesis of democratic functioning”.

In the last four years of the AIADMK government, State publicity advertisements have invariably carried pictures of Ms. Jayalalithaa.

Writer Vaasanthi, who has written extensively on the cut-out culture, said advertisements were an important part of building the image of a “benevolent leader”.

Raising questions about the order, former Madras High Court Judge K. Chandru said even the pictures of the Prime Minister and the President should not have been allowed if the basis of the judgment was to avoid wasteful spending of public funds. “The exemption given to the Chief Justice of India is even more absurd as I do not know where it fits into the scheme of things,” he told The Hindu.

‘Ad order undermines federal structure’

The prospect of being prohibited from promoting new welfare schemes in the name of Ms. Jayalalithaa through advertisements may have been a factor behind the Tamil Nadu government seeking a review of a recent Supreme Court order banning use of political images in government advertisements.

However, the State government has argued in its review plea that the order contradicts the federal structure and the concept of parity between the Centre and State governments as the Prime Minister, President and CJI have been exempted from the rule, whereas the Chief Ministers and Governors have come under the prohibition. The order also gave an impression that the judiciary was intruding into the functions of the executive, the petition said.

However, retired Madras High Court judge K. Chandru does not agree with the argument that the court should not interfere in the matter as it is in the domain of the executive. “The court did appoint a committee to go into the matter,” he pointed out.

The AIADMK government has the support of the DMK in the matter. Party president M. Karunanidhi had opposed the bar on the use of the Chief Minister’s pictures. In a statement, he said a Chief Minister and the Prime Minister occupy an equal status under the Constitution. In any State, he said people would give priority to their Chief Minister over the Prime Minister.

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