NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and governments of Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh and Telangana seeking their response for allegedly misusing taxpayers’ money and not complying with its guidelines on issuing public advertisements.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi , Navin Sinha and K M Joseph agreed to hear a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Sanjeev Jha alleging that these state governments were violating the directions of the apex court. Jha also made BJP a party in the case saying states ruled by it were using government funds to give advertisements to promote the party.

The Supreme Court had in March 2016 held that only photos of President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, governors, chief ministers, Union and state ministers be used in public advertisements.

