A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, headed by Chief Justice J.K. Maheswari and comprising Justice K. Suresh Reddy, posted to the third week of September the hearing on a writ petition filed by a Vijayawada-based entrepreneur, K. Naga Sravan, on display of huge photographs of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in government advertisements and alleged discrimination in giving them to various publications.
Appearing for the government, Advocate-General S. Sriram said the petitioner was close to the TDP, and he would obviously try to keep it (his proximity to the party) a secret in spite of it being in public domain.
He insisted that the files related to advertisements start and end with the Commissioner of Information & Public Relations Department, and do not go to the Chief Minister. What the petitioner did was peddling half-truths, he observed.
Mr. Sriram told the court that the maintainability of such PILs should be looked into as it became a pattern of “ghosts and phantoms” filing them.
Presenting arguments on the petitioner’s behalf, senior advocate Dammalapati Srinivas alleged that giving advertisements with colour compositions of the ruling party (YSRCP) was against the relevant guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and that the circulation norms were being flouted.
