The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the publication of the photos of governor, chief minister and the ministers of the department concerned in government advertisements.
The top court’s order comes after, the Centre and some states including poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had sought revision of the SC verdict barring publication of leaders’ photos in advertisements except those of President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, saying that it infringed fundamental rights and federal structure.
The apex court bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the publication of photos of governor, chief minister and ministers of departments concerned while modifying their earlier order by which the court had permitted photos of president, prime minister and CJI only in the government ads.
The Centre had on October 27 last year joined hands with several state governments in seeking review of the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement on the issue.
On May 13, 2015 the apex court had passed a slew of directions including the order asking the Centre to constitute a three- member committee “consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality” to regulate the issue of public advertisements.
