SC Issues Guidelines On Regulation Of Public Advertisements

13 May,New Delhi

Supreme Court has issued a slew of guidelines on regulation of public advertisements and said that they can carry pictures of certain dignitaries like the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi Wednesday rejected the plea of the central government that judiciary should not tread into the territory of policy decisions and said that the courts can step in if there is no policy or law in place. It also asked the central government to constitute a three-member committee to regulate the issue of public advertisement.

The court accepted all major recommendations made by a committee on regulation of government advertisements.

It, however, did not allow a provision for special audit of award of government advertisement to media houses.

It did not approve one of the recommendations of the three-member committee, headed by eminent academician Prof NR Madhava Menon, that government advertisements should not carry photographs of any dignitaries including the President and the Prime Minister.

The apex court had on April 24 had set up the committee and decided to frame guidelines to prevent “misuse” of public funds by the government and authorities in giving ads in newspapers and television to gain political mileage.

Earlier on February 17, the government had opposed the framing of guidelines on regulating its advertisements, saying this does not fall under the ambit of judicial purview. The court order came on a petition filed by NGOs Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).