In a modification of its verdict delivered a year ago, the Supreme Court today allowed the photographs of Union and chief ministers, governors and state ministers in government advertisements.

The top court bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the publication of photos as it modified its May 2015 order, by which the court had only permitted photos of President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India in government ads.

The Centre and the states of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka had moved the court, seeking the review of its earlier order, contending that it was contrary to the federal structure of the country.

The Centre argued that in a federal polity, the position of chief ministers or Union ministers was in no way less than that of the prime minister.

"If the prime minister can be shown in the government advertisements, there is no reasons why photos of the chief minister can't be shown. If there has to be the prime minister's photo, then chief minister is equally important," it maintained.

Reserving its verdict, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi and the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu on a contempt plea for violating its verdict by issuing advertisement aimed to promote the two chief ministers and for political messaging.

The court also reserved its order on a review plea by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), seeking exclusion of the prime minister's photograph also as it was being "grossly misused".

Appearing for the CPIL, counsel Prashant Bhushan said "order permitting prime minister's photographs is being grossly misused and same should be dropped".

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