A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member has approached the Madras High Court seeking a direction from the Centre as well as the State Government to consider his plea for displaying the portraits of the President and the Prime Minister in all local body offices, cooperative society banks and ration shops.
In his writ petition, R.S. Mohan Raj of Anikadavu village in Tiruppur district said he had displayed a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a primary agricultural cooperative society. However, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) cadres forcibly removed the portrait leading to a police complaint.
Stating that most of the Central welfare schemes get implemented only through the local bodies, panchayat union offices, block development offices, cooperative society banks, and ration shops, the litigant insisted that the portraits of the Prime Minister must be displayed over there as a mark of respect for his devoted service.
He also accused the DMK members of removing the portraits with a malafide intention. Last year, another BJP member R. Jayakkumar of Cuddalore filed a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to display the portraits of the President and the Prime Minister in all State Government offices.
On April 7, 2021, the first Division Bench led by then Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy disposed of the PIL petition after taking note that the government offices had been given the option of displaying one or more of the photographs of several national leaders.
-“Since the relevant government notification does not make it mandatory for all government buildings to carry the photographs of the persons indicated therein, it will be for the individual government offices to deal with the matter in accordance with the law,” the Division Bench observed.
