The Hindu : Supreme Court bans surrogate ads on electronic media

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

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Supreme Court bans surrogate ads on electronic media

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 2. Expressing serious concern over "mudslinging" through advertisements, the Supreme Court today banned the telecast of all political or surrogate advertisements on cable networks and television channels which offended "the law of the land, morality, decency and religious susceptibility of viewers and are shocking, disgusting and revolting."

A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S.H. Kapadia, agreed with the submissions of the Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, for a ban on political mudslinging through surrogate advertisements.

Mr. Sorabjee referred to advertisements being telecast against the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and said they were disgusting and had crossed political decency. The Bench observed: "We are in the midst of watching a great cricket series and we do not want it to be substituted by a competition or a match in political mudslinging."

The Bench passed the order on a special leave petition filed by the Centre challenging an interim order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court staying the operation of Rule 7 (3) of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 on the ground that the rule violated the fundamental right of a person to carry on any business. (Rule 7 (3) provides that no advertisements shall be permitted, the objective whereof is of a religious or political nature and advertisements must not be directed towards any religious or political end.)

Substituting the High Court order with its own, the judges said that all those surrogate advertisements could not be shown by television channels and cable networks. They asked the Election Commission to monitor the advertisements to ensure they were in conformity with the laws of the land and with the apex court's order and also to suggest modalities for a proper implementation of the order.

The Bench asked the Commission to respond by April 5 as to whether the expenses incurred for the telecast of advertisements by candidates for the election be not added to their election expenses. It issued notice to Gemini TV and P. Kiran, on whose petition the High Court had suspended the operation of the Rule. Senior counsel, Harish Salve, appeared for the television channel.

The special leave petition by the Centre was directed against the High Court order dated March 23 suspending the operation of Rule 7 (3), which empowered the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ban airing of political advertisements, including surrogate advertisements.

In the SLP filed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, it was stated that the High Court failed to appreciate that Rule 7 (3) was enacted with the objective of ensuring that money power did not distort the electoral process. It was a known fact that the reach and impact of the electronic media far outstripped the reach and impact of all other media. Further, since the cost of advertising was more, an ordinary person or small political parties would not have the resources to advertise on TV.

The SLP contended that Rule 7 (3) was to prevent well-funded and resourceful individuals or organisations from using money power and the power of television to distort the balance of political debate and the electoral process.

The Congress had filed a complaint to the Election Commission to stop the telecast of "surrogate" advertisements issued by Kamakshi Education Society and being telecast in Aaj Tak and Zee News with oblique reference to Ms. Gandhi's foreign origin.

The BJP had complained to the Commission about the telecast of another advertisement issued by Saajhi Viraasat Trust casting aspersions on Mr. Vajpayee in Aaj Tak suggesting that he was an "informer" to the then British Government. While the Commission wanted the Government to take action against the telecast of these advertisements, the Government put the onus on the Commission to regulate them under the model code of conduct. Finally, the Centre filed the petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order.

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