New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) The government Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it was within its domain to decide how much and how it should spend on publicising its policies and programmes and it was answerable to parliament and no entity without a legal sanction can oversee it.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi gave the government's stand to a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Pinkai Chandra Ghose as the court reserved its order after hearing submissions on the guidelines suggested by the apex court-appointed three member committee headed by eminent legal academician N.R. Madhavan Menon.
The Committee in its report on "Guidelines on Content Regulation of Government Advertising" has said that the government advertisements should be politically neutral and refrain from carrying the photographs of the political leaders and only in essential situations the photographs of the president, prime minister, governor or chief ministers should be used.
"Government advertising shall maintain political neutrality and avoid glorification of political personalities and projecting a positive impression of the party in power or a negative impression of parties critical of the government," said the committee which also had former Lok Sabha secretary general T.K. Vishwanathan and present Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar as its members.
Attorney General Rohatgi opposed the submissions by the counsel for the petitioner NGOs Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and other parties Prashant Bhushan, M.N.Krishnamani and Kaleeswaram Rao seeking the appointment of an independent ombudsman to over-see the compliance of the Madhvan Committee guidelines.
He said that it was for the democratically elected government to decide "how much, where and how" it should spend on publicising its policies and making people aware of its programmes touching different aspects of their life.
Rohatgi said that there was a constitutional framework overseeing the government spending which are approved by the parliament and audited by the CAG.
He said that a government advertisement does not become political merely because it carries the photographs of the prime minister or the minister concerned. It is for the democratically elected government to make the expenditure, Rohtagi said.
The 24th match of the IPL 2021 season is being played between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan R
It has been 11 days since the release of the Malayalam film 'Lokah Chapter 1' today on the second
Delhi Police vacates Shaheen Bagh as capital goes under curfew, 9 taken in custody
कोरोनावायरस के प्रकोप के बीच दिल्ली
Australia Enter World Cup as No.1 Side
Adelaide, Feb 12 (IANS) Australia will launch a campaign to win their fifth cricket World Cup t
The Supreme Court has stayed the Bombay High Court's acquittal of former Delhi University profess
The unemployment rate in the country has increased once again. It stood at 7.45 percent in Februa
Congress: 'Until you change your stance...'; Muralidharan takes a dig at Tharoor's recent statement
Senior Congress leader K. Muralidharan on Sunday once again targeted his party leader Shashi Thar
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is traveling to Haryana and holding tractor rallies against the rece
In the two-day session of Congress on the banks of Sabarbati river in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, party p
Indian delegations abroad met leaders of several countries on Monday and reiterated India's resol
