New Delhi: The Madras high court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to stop printing photos of chief ministers and other public functionaries on items like school bags, textbooks and stationery meant for use by children, calling the practice 'abhorring'.

According to Hindustan Times, the court said that books or bags mean for school-going children "who do not have a right to vote" should not carry photographs of public functionaries, even of the chief minister. “The state should ensure that such practice is not continued in future,” a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu said.

The court was passing orders in public interest litigation (PIL) which wanted the practice to be stopped, so that public funds are not "wasted on carrying the names and photographs of previous chief ministers on textbooks, school bags and stationery",  according to the newspaper.

According to The News Minute, the court also said that bags and other material which had photorgraphs of previous chief ministers should not be wasted by the present government, as considerable public funds were spent on them. The government submitted that these items will be used until they are exhausted.

Advocate general R. Shunmugasundaram’s submitted that incumbent chief minister M.K. Stalin has decided that his photographs will not be published on such material in the future, according to the web portal.

Given this decision by the DMK government, the high court said that no further orders are needed, except directing the state that "extreme care and caution should be taken to ensure that public funds are not expended for publicity purposes of political leaders".

Disposed of the petition, the court said that photographs of the chief minister may be carried, but only in advertisements in newspapers or on hoardings, according to Hindustan Times. "[They] certainly [should] not used on textbooks or exercise books or any educational material at all,” the court added.

In Tamil Nadu, there has long been a tradition of printing chief ministers' photos on various items distributed through welfare schemes. In August, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told the assembly that Stalin’s decision to retain photos of former chief ministers late J. Jayalalithaa and Edappadi Palaniswami on 6.5 million school bags and 1 million stationery items has saved the state exchequer a cost of Rs 13 crore.

Hindustan Times said that since some of Tamil Nadu’s past chief ministers made the "transition from the world of films to politics", it was common for their images to be erected as hoardings and banners.

"Both DMK and AIADMK have also introduced free and heavily subsidised schemes and offered free materials to the electorate such as colour TV, grinder, fans, cycles and bags for school students that often bear the names and photos of whichever party is in power. Once a government was in transition following elections, it was also common for the previous regimes’ schemes and materials to be discontinued and replaced," the newspaper said.

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