New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday declined to entertain a PIL seeking to quash a letter issued by the Controller General of Defence Accounts and DoPT’s office memorandum which seek to use public servants to showcase achievements of the government.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was representing petitioners EAS Sarma and Jagdeep S Chhokar, repeatedly urged the bench of two-judges to give him an opportunity to present his case, but the court did not allow him to begin his arguments. The hearing lasted for a little over one minute.
At the outset, a bench comprising justices B R Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra told the advocate Bhushan that the court is not keen to entertain the plea.
The bench said, “newspapers are filled with advertisements with what has been done by the government. Done by the state government of different political parties and it is done by the central government of a political party…. Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra…” Bhushan said even that is a misuse and, regarding the plea, added that here this is something more sinister.
However, Justice Gavai replied that the Election Commission of India has taken care of that and during the Code of Conduct such a thing is not permissible. “I am sorry, we are not inclined”, said Justice Gavai. Bhushan said, “your lordships, give me an opportunity”. However, the judges on the bench did not budge.
Justice Gavai told Bhushan, “No, thank you. Dismissed! We do not entertain petitions only for the purpose of publicity”. Bhushan said there is no question of publicity involved in the matter and attempted several times to draw the court's attention on the contents of the petition. But he failed to convince the bench. Justice Gavai said, “Thank you, Mr Bhushan!”. Noticing that the court is not keen in hearing the matter, Bhushan requested the court to allow him to move the high court.
The bench, in its order, said, “Allowed to withdraw with liberty to approach the jurisdictional high court”.
The PIL, filed by EAS Sarma and Jagdeep S Chhokar, sought setting aside of the letter of October 9, 2023 of the Controller General of Defence Accounts of the Ministry of Defence “to Controllers of Defence Accounts of different regions on the subject: ‘Development of selfie-points to showcase good works done/being done in MoD’ requesting that all selfie points as per targets may be installed ‘immediately’, and that Action Taken Report may be forwarded to the said office ‘immediately’ for onward transmission to Ministry.”
“The aforesaid impugned letter, dated 09.10.2020, may be read in conjunction with a Ministry of Defence’s order, which directed soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes, making them ‘soldier-ambassadors’,” the plea said.
The PIL also challenged the office memorandum of October 17, 2023 of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Central government.
The DoPT decided “to deploy joint secretaries/directors/deputy secretaries of GOI as ‘district rath prabharis (Special Officers)’ for showcasing/ celebration of achievements of the last nine years of GOI, through ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, proposed to be organised across the country from November 20, 2023 to January 25, 2024.”
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