The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Madras High Court order prohibiting the use of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s name in state government schemes.
The court castigated the petitioner, AIADMK MP C Ve Shanmugam for singling out the state government and its Chief Minister when similar schemes exist in other states. “When such schemes are floated in the name of all leaders of political parties, we do not appreciate the anxiety of the petitioner to choose only one political party and one political leader,” the top court was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.
The Madras High Court order that the top court dismissed was passed on July 31. It banned the use of names of former CMs or living political personalities in government welfare schemes.
The order barred use of “the name of any living personality, photographs of former chief ministers or ideological leaders,” and “party symbols, emblems, or flags of political parties,” including the ruling DMK.
“It would not be permissible to mention the name of the living political personality in the nomenclature of the government scheme. Moreover, using the name of any ruling political party, its insignia/logo/emblem/flag also appears to be prima facie against the directives of the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India,” the high court had said. The ruling was given by a bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan.
Setting aside the order on Wednesday, the Supreme Court slapped a cost of ₹10 lakh on the petitioner MP and directed the amount to be deposited with the state with a condition that the same be utilised for benefit of scheme for underprivileged.
The Supreme Court also pushed for courts to be left out of political battles. It noted that the petitioner, the AIADMK MP, had rushed to the High Court within three days of submitting an application before the Election Commission, calling the move an “abuse of the process of law.”
