SC to hear in open court pleas to review verdict on govt advts

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear in open court a batch of petitions seeking review of its landmark judgement barring publication of photos of leaders in official advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

“Application for hearing in open Court is allowed,” a bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Pinaki Chandra Ghose said. The bench passed the order after considering the pleas of various states governments in its chamber proceedings. The bench said all the petitions seeking review of the verdict will be tagged and heard together. It had on September 14 issued <g data-gr-id="18">notice</g> to the centre and the NGO Common Cause, which had filed the original PIL, on review petitions filed by the states. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and Assam had also moved the apex court seeking its nod to publish photographs of Chief Ministers on their advertisements.

Recently, the apex court had sought <g data-gr-id="16">response</g> from Centre as to whether it has set up a three-member ombudsman to regulate advertisements issued by various governments and authorities.