The Delhi High Court has observed that there could not be any grievance in the use of public money for the promotion of government schemes as long as the medium did not promote any political party.
The observations were made by the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora on Friday, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the use of public resources and civil servants for the purpose of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, a campaign initiated to amplify the schemes of the government
Filed by former IAS officer EAS Sarma and former IIM Ahmedabad Dean Jagdeep S Chhokar, the plea further challenged the order issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), directing the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to set up selfie points with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase the achievements of the Ministry.
The High Court noted that unless and until it involved a political insignia, there was no reason to have an issue with the government promoting its schemes.
It said the Prime Minister was also an elected person holding a constitutional post, adding that PM Narendra Modi may be someone’s political rival but if the public money was being used for last mile connectivity of beneficial schemes, there cannot be any grievance.
The Division Bench listed the matter for further hearing on January 30.
The Counsel appearing for the petitioners argued that the platforms are not being used to propagate the government’s schemes alone, but political leaders are giving speeches at these yatras and referring to issues like Ram Mandir, Gujarat riots, abrogation of Article 370 etc.
As per the counsel, in the name of promoting the schemes, various government departments like the Railways, University Grants Commission (UGC) and MoD were putting up 3D selfie points of PM Modi.
He further contended that all the selfie points have placards of the Prime Minister and each one of these is costing Rs 6.5 lakh. He alleged that hundreds of bureaucrats and army offices have been deployed for the campaign,which had nothing to do with the schemes and was purely political.
Representing the Central government, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma argued that through these yatras, the government was providing last mile connectivity to people who were still out of the government’s beneficial schemes.
Referring to two notes to highlight the benefits and the rationale behind the yatras as well as the Army’s efforts, ASG Sharma said that these yatras have benefitted people in some of the most remote places.
He said for example, lakhs of people have been screened for tuberculosis and have been provided with other benefits as well.
He further said that the Selfie points being built by the Army were to inspire young women to join the armed forces and tell people about steps towards self-reliance in defence as well as schemes like Agnipath.
The ASG added that the government was not promoting the achievements of only the last nine years.