Supreme Court issues notice to Centre, six states on violation of public advertisement guidelines

According to media reports, the top court has sought responses from the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Except Telengana, the other five states are ruled by the BJP.

  The petition was filed by Sanjeev Jha, an AAP MLA from Delhi.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the respondents to reply within four weeks. .

The petitioner has alleged that the Centre, BJP and the six states have isued public advertisements in violation of the apex court's directions given earlier.

The petitioner has sought  a direction from the Supreme Court that a committee be constituted on this issue and it be asked to take cognizance of these alleged violations and initiate appropriate proceedings against them.

On May 13, 2015 the apex court had passed a slew of directions including the order asking Centre to constitute a three-member committee "consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality" to regulate the issue of public advertisements.

However, on March 18, 2016, the apex court modified its order and said the pictures of Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors and State Ministers can appear in government advertisements.