Welcome modification by the SC of its own judgement

Supreme Court of India has saved the country from major constitutional crisis by modifying its own order of 15^th May 2015 by which it had directed that the photographs of Minister, Chief Minister or Governor of the states would not be published or shown in the government advertisements.

The bench consisting of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice P.C. Ghosh had ruled that it amounted to sheer misuse of public money for private publicity. This order had created a lot of problems for the Federal structure of the country, where the Governors and the Chief Ministers enjoy the equal constitutional rights.

Under Part VI of the Constitution of India, the rights of the Governors, Chief Ministers and the State Legislatures are clearly defined from Article 152 to Article 213 as it is provided for the Union Executive from Articles 52 to 122 in Part V. Similarly Articles 124 to 147 of Chapter IV deal with Union Judiciary, while Chapter V from 214 to 237 deal with the State Judiciary.

Thus duties, rights and responsibilities of the Union and the States are delineated in the Constitution. Needless to say, the High Courts do not function under the Supreme Court of India, as it has no supervisory powers over the High Courts. On the other hand, the High Courts have been vested with the supervisory powers over the subordinate courts of their respective jurisdictions under Article 227. The Supreme court enjoys supremacy because of certain reasons. Firstly; it is vested with powers under Article 141 whereby the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the country. It is based on the principle of ‘stare decis’. Secondly; Article 142 provides the power to the Supreme Court to exercise its jurisdiction to render complete justice regardless of non-existence of any statutory provision. Thirdly; it is the highest Appellate Court, where the decisions of High Courts can be appealed to be upheld, set aside or modified. Fourthly; the President of India may consult it, at any time, on any question of law or the fact. This power is called the Power of Reference.

Although, it is like a consultation by the President of India from the Supreme Court yet the opinion expressed by the Supreme Court is binding on the President of India which literally means the Government of India. What is, however, the most outstanding power that is given by the Constitution to the Supreme court is Article 136, which provides vast discretionary power to grant special leave to appeal to any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India. Article 144 reinforces the authority of the Supreme Court which says all authorities civil and judicial in the territory of India shall act in its aid. Article 145 vests Supreme Court to frame its own rules. The writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 is similar to that of High Courts in Article 226. In fact, the High Courts have got winder powers under Article 226 for entertaining the petitions or issuing writs. The Supreme Court while passing any order in respect of the High Courts does not give direction but makes request, although in the legal parlances any request coming from the Supreme Court has all the force of orders.

Now let us come to the background of the case. This judgment of the Supreme Court was delivered in the context of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a non-governmental organisation Common Cause for restricting the publication or broadcast of the photographs of the Ministers, Chief Ministers and the Governors at the cost of the public exchequer. The idea of Common Cause is certainly benign and laudable in the sense that public money should not be used for private publicity. Thus, the Supreme Court in its order of 15^th May 2015 said that except the photograph of President/Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, no other photographs could be published or telecast in the audio visual media. This order of the Supreme Court was fraught with dangers. Although it was a welcome decision with good intentions yet it raised many issues concerning the Centre- State relationships. It was the reason that many review petitions were filed by various State Governments and others. Finally, on 18^th of march 2016, the Supreme Court modified its order to the extent that the photograph of Chief Ministers Governors and Ministers of the Government can be published or shown along with Prime Minister, President and Chief Justice of India. Since the Supreme Court is the Apex Court, therefore, its order/decisions/directions can be modified only by itself. Be that as it may, it has come as a huge relief because now the stands settled by the correct interpretation of the Constitution. Hence, this historic modification in the judgement will help balance and strengthen the federal structure of the Country.