The High Court today gave a key verdict on a public interest litigation filed challenging the placement of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s photo along with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s photo in government offices in AP.
After the coalition government came to power last year, it ordered that Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s photo be placed alongside CM Chandrababu Naidu’s photo in the state secretariat and several other government offices. A PIL was filed in the High Court challenging these.
The AP High Court questioned where the ban on the installation of the photo of the Deputy CM was? Stating that the petition was filed for political reasons, a bench comprising Chief Justice Dheeraj Singh Thakur and Justice Chimalapati Ravi dismissed the court PIL. The petitioner was advised to file PILs that are useful for the people and society.
The court opined that this PIL was filed with a political view and intentionally. The court said that it is everyone’s responsibility to go to court for the good of the people. The High Court warned that it is not right to use the court for political gain.
The court made it clear that only genuine public interest petitions will be heard. It advised everyone to approach the court according to the law. It was of the opinion that this is the responsibility of the people. The court will consider only petitions filed on matters that are useful for the society.
Railway employee Kondalarao has filed a PIL in the High Court alleging that Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s photos are being displayed in government offices in Andhra Pradesh without legal permission. He has requested that the photos of the Deputy CM be removed until the government takes a policy regarding the photos.
In this PIL, the petitioner has named the GAD Principal Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Director of Public Relations, and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan as individual respondents. Kondalarao has filed an application under the Right to Information Act on the issue of photos in government offices.
In response, the Information and Public Relations Department said that the government does not currently have any GO or guidelines. It also clarified that the government has not given any instructions to the offices to display photos of the Chief Minister and Deputy Deputy CMs. It has been stated that no information is available in this regard from 2024 to date.
In this context, Kondalarao said in his PIL that the post of Deputy CM is not clearly mentioned in the Constitution. He recalled that this matter is not mentioned in Article 164 of the Constitution. He said that it only states that the Governor will appoint the Chief Minister and other ministers.
Kondalarao argued that it is not right to put the Deputy CM’s photo next to the CM in government offices. He said that doing so would make people think that the two positions are equal. However, the AP High Court dismissed Kondalarao’s PIL.