Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to feature the photos of the President and the Prime Minister in all advertisements that are meant for the Chess Olympiad.
The court was responding to a plea that sought the court to deem all advertisements related to the Chess Olympiad where only the photographs of the Chief Minister was used without the President and Prime Minister, as illegal, arbitrary and "in violation of the directions" of the Supreme Court.
The order came a day after BJP workers pasted photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on billboards for the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai.
The bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari observed that when such an event is hosted in the country, it depicts the image of the country in the international fora and "the interest of the nation should be (of) paramount importance in the mind of every citizen".
'When our country is hosting such an international event, it is the bounden duty of one and all to ensure that such function is organized efficiently and we leave an indelible mark at the international level," the court said.
The High Court also rejected the state government's submission on the reasons for not publishing photos of the President and the Prime Minister. The Tamil Nadu government stated the presidential election as the reason for not including the President's photo and the delay in getting permission from the Prime Minister's Office for using PM Modi's photos in the Chess Olympiad advertisements.
Dismissing the reason for not including President's photo, the court said there were advertisements that have been released without the President's image even after the declaration of the result of the Presidential elections.
As for the Prime Minister's photo, the court said that the photograph of the Prime Minister was required to be published even if he could not have inaugurated the event. What has to be noted here is that despite the Parliament session, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the function.
The plea argued that the publication of advertisements for an international event without the photographs of the President and the Prime Minister was a violation of the Supreme Court order because an international event could not be an event of the state hosting it.
To this, the state government said it had no intention of flouting directives of the Supreme Court and there was no ill-intention behind the non-publication.