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.
During the arguments in the court, the petitioner pointed out the order of the Supreme Court in the case of Balaji Raghavan vs. Union of India in which the apex court had suggested the constitution of a national-level committee by the Prime Minister of India in consultation with the President of India to appropriately administer the process of conferment of ‘Padma Awards, no such committee had not been constituted by the appropriate authorities.
The court, in the previous order, had said that the issues and concerns raised in the petition are found to be appropriate to require the petitioner to approach the Government of India drawing its attention to the alleged inappropriate conduct of some of the ‘Padma Awardees’ and also in respect of their alleged participation in harmful and misleading advertisements.
“In fact, we are of the considered opinion that all these issues including the issue relating to framing of any such guidelines fall in the exclusive domain of the executive/legislature and hence, it would be appropriate for the petitioner to make an appropriate representation to the Central Government in respect of such grievances expressed by him in the petition,” the High Court had said in its September 22, 2022 order.
It had disposed the petition with orders of framing the guidelines as prayed for by the petitioner in the petition along with the redressal of the grievances relating to violation of consumer rights/unfair trade practices/false and misleading advertisement
“In case the petitioner approaches the aforesaid authorities, grievances which may be raised by him shall appropriately be attended to in accordance with law, with expedition,” the court had said.
Alleging the non-compliance of the HC’s order, the petitioner has now moved a contempt plea in tehg matter . The High Court maintained that the case needs consideration and has issued notice to cabinet secretary seeking his explanation as to why the compliance with the order of the HC had not been done in its letter and spirit.
