The bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved its verdict on the review pleas of the Centre and seven states after hearing the day-long arguments in which it was submitted that besides Prime Minister, pictures of central ministers, Chief Ministers and others state ministers be allowed to be carried in public advertisements.
The bench also asked Delhi and Tamil Nadu to reply to its notice within six weeks.
The court had earlier barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.
At the outset, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, today strongly favoured review of the verdict on various grounds including that if Prime Minister's photograph is allowed in the advertisements then the same right should be available to his cabinet colleagues as the PM is the "first among the equals".
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The fundamental right under Article 19 can only be regulated under Article 19 (2) which deals about reasonable restrictions to the freedom of speech and expression, he said.
The expenditure of governments is regulated either by
Parliament or by state legislatures and moreover, there is a body like Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India to take care of accounting aspect of expenditure incurred on advertisements, Rohatgi said.
Rohatgi also said that if only Prime Minister's photograph is allowed in government advertisements then it can be said that it would promote "personality cult" which has been described as "an anti-thesis of democracy" by this court only.
Other ministers and the Chief Ministers are also answerable to public and they cannot remain "faceless", he said adding that the apex court verdict has dealt with print advertisements only in the time where electronic and social media are also there.
During the hearing, advocate Meera Bhatia said despite the court's order, the Centre has not set up to the three-member panel to oversee implementation of the guidelines regulating government-funded advertisements.
The Centre had on October 27 last year joined hands with several state governments in seeking review of the Supreme Court's landmark judgement on the issue.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing NGO Common Cause, which had filed the original PIL, on review petitions filed by the states, had told the bench that certain state governments were violating the apex court's orders.