SC quashes Madras High Court order barring use of former CMs’ photos, party symbols in scheme ads

The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside an interim order passed by the Madras High Court that restrained the Tamil Nadu government from naming welfare schemes after living politicians and using the photographs of former chief ministers, ideological leaders and party symbols in advertisements, Live Law reported.

A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria passed the direction on petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government and the state’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam against the High Court order.

The High Court had passed the order on July 31 in response to a public interest litigation filed by C Ve Shanmugam, an MP from the Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

He had sought directions to stop the DMK government from using Chief Minister MK Stalin’s name in public outreach programmes such as Ungaludan Stalin (With You, Stalin) and Mudhalvarin Mugavari (Chief Minister’s Address).

Shanmugam had argued that such practices violated the Supreme Court’s earlier directions as well as the 2014 Government Advertisement Content Regulation Guidelines.

The High Court had referred to an earlier Supreme Court ruling that allowed using the current chief minister’s photographs in government ads, but said that including former leaders or party icons could be seen as political misuse of public funds.

In its ruling on Wednesday,...

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