The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to strictly adhere to the Supreme Court’s guidelines while introducing new public schemes, particularly those named after living personalities. The oral observation came during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by AIADMK MP C.Ve. Shanmugam and advocate Iniyan.
The PIL seeks a restraint on the Tamil Nadu government from introducing or rebranding any scheme in the name of a living person—particularly the current Chief Minister M.K. Stalin—pending the disposal of the writ petition. The petition also calls upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising to take action against the ruling DMK under Paragraph 16A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
Senior advocate Vijay Narayan, representing Shanmugam, submitted that the state had launched a scheme titled “Ungaludan Stalin” (With You, Stalin), which was accompanied by an advertisement featuring the Chief Minister’s name, party symbol, and photographs of ideological leaders. He argued this was in direct violation of Supreme Court and ECI norms regulating political publicity through government-funded initiatives.
Narayan also warned the bench that another scheme was slated for launch on August 2, and sought a direction to restrain the DMK from repeating such alleged violations in its publicity campaign.
In response, Advocate General P.S. Raman denied the allegation, stating that the government-issued advertisement did not carry any party symbol and was compliant with regulations. He also presented a copy of the official advertisement, which carried a DIPR (Department of Information and Public Relations) code. He clarified that the advertisement cited by the petitioner was not issued by the state but sourced from a Twitter handle.
Senior counsel P. Wilson, appearing for the DMK party, called the petition “politically motivated” and accused the petitioner of projecting a false narrative.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice M.M. Shrivatsava and Justice Sunder Mohan, directed both the Election Commission and the state government to file their responses within a week. The petitioner has been given three days thereafter to file a rejoinder. The court said it would take up the matter for final hearing following the completion of pleadings.
