Bombay High Court directs Maharashtra Government to prevent misuse of public funds on ads

New Delhi: In a recent decision, the Bombay High Court has issued a directive to the Government of Maharashtra to form a committee to look into the misuse of public funds on advertisements, as per reports. The court noted that there is no justification for not having a committee present to oversee such matters in Maharashtra. 

The bench of Justice MS Sonak and Justice Jitendra Jain observed, “The Chief Secretary, State of Maharashtra, shall personally ensure that such a three-member body is constituted. This is because a direction for the constitution of such a three-member body was issued on 13 May 2015 and reiterated on 28 April 2016.”

This directive was issued in response to a writ petition by the Editors’ Forum, stating that the Government Resolutions (GRs) dated May 1, 2001; August 13, 2008; August 31, 2009 and October 19, 2015 issued by the General Administration Department of the State of Maharashtra had been flouted by the state and various other agencies including the Bombay Municipal Corporation. 

The petitioner made several other allegations including breaches of GRs concerning advertisement distribution, violations of the rotation policy, issuance to non-approved media, bypassing the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) on empanelment, and use of non-approved agencies. 

Advocate SB Talekar appeared for the appellant and Senior Advocate Prashant Chawan appeared for the respondent. 

The court said that the Chief Secretary, State of Maharashtra, must ensure that no advertisements violating the directions and guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Common Cause (supra) be released in Maharashtra. 

The matter has been posted for December 16, 2024 by the court to consider compliance.