The Allahabad High Court on Thursday, August 26, 2023, issued a notice to Cabinet Secretary (Rajiv Gauba) for non-compliance of a previous order of the HC pertaining to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in which the court had directed the centre to address the grievance concerning the participation of ‘certain’ Padma awardees in ‘misleading’ advertisements which are harmful to the health of the public at large.
In a PIL filed by a practising lawyer Moti Lal Yadav, issues of public figures, including ‘Padma Awardees’ who were claimed to be participating in advertisements/endorsements of certain products/items which are harmful to health of public at large, was raised. The PIL requested the court to pass directions to the Central Consumer Protection Authority of India to take action against the private respondents by imposing penalty as per the provisions contained in Section 21 (2) of the Act, 2019.
The PIL also prayed from the court to direct ‘certain’ Padma awardee to deposit the entire amount earned from those particular advertisements and further that an equal amount be also ordered to be deposited by them in relief fund of the Government of India. The PIL also sought directions to the authorities concerned for the formation of guidelines for the dis-conferment of the awards in case an awardee is not found conducting himself appropriately.
