IMPORTANT POINT
Advertisements by the State should not be used for political mileage.

JUDGMENT

P. Sathasivam, CJI. –

1) These writ petitions are filed in public interest, under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, to throw light on the enduring issue of use of publicly funded government advertising campaigns as de facto political advertising canvass which is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. With the increasing awareness and emphasis on transparency in the governance of the country, the public senses the need to restrain the misuse of public funds for furthering the political motives. These petitions have been brought as a class action by certain registered societies viz., Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus restraining the Union of India and all the State Governments from using public funds for advertising in a manner so as to project the personalities, parties or particular governments and for laying down binding guidelines which will prevent the abuse of public funds by such advertising.

2) The immediate cause of filing these writ petitions in 2003 and 2004 respectively is stated to be the numerous full page advertisements in the print media and repeated advertisements in the electronic media by the Central Government, State Governments and its agencies, instrumentalities including public sector undertakings which project political personalities and proclaim the achievements of particular political governments and parties at the expense of the public exchequer. It is also the assertion of the petitioners that such advertisements become more blatant and assumes alarming proportions just before the announcement of the general elections.

Accordingly, it is the stand of the petitioners that such deliberate misuse of public funds by the Central Government, State Governments, their Departments and instrumentalities of the State is destructive to the rule of law. Further, it allows the parties in power to patronize publications and media organizations affiliated to the parties in power and also to get favourable media coverage by selective dispersal of the advertising bonanza.

3) It is projected that the use of public funds for advertising by public authorities to project particular personalities, parties or governments without any attendant public interest is mala fide and arbitrary and amounts to violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It is also highlighted that use and wastage of public funds in political motivated advertisements designed to project particular personality, party or Government by wasting public money is also in violation of the fundamental rights under Article 21 because of diversion of resources by the governments for partisan interests. Such violation, therefore, attracts the remedy under Article 32 for the enforcement of fundamental rights of the citizens. It is the stand of the petitioners herein that a writ of mandamus in such a situation, if it is to be effective, needs to be accompanied by guidelines regulating the same and we accede to the stand of the petitioners.

4) On the other hand, Union of India and various States submitted the necessity of advertisement in the print and electronic media for dissemination of information in a democratic setup and further pointed out that since similar issues have already been raised earlier and adjudicated upon by this Court as also some High Courts such as Bombay and Delhi, hence akin grounds should not be entertained in these petitions. With these averments and in the light of the earlier decision of this Court in Manzoor Ali Khan & Anr. vs. U.O.I. & Ors. [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 83 of 2005] decided on 10.01.2011, the respondents herein prayed for dismissal of both the writ petitions.

5) Heard Ms. Meera Bhatia, Mr. Prashant Bhushan, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. K. Radhakrishnan, learned senior counsel for the respondent-Union of India. We also heard respective counsel for various States.

Discussion:

6) Let us, at the outset, consider the objec