Can Govt Policy Be Pushed In Individual's Name?: High Court Asks AP Govt In PIL Challenging 'Why Andhra Needs Jagan' Campaign

In issuing notice on a PIL seeking to restrain government employees from participating in a political program called “Why AP Needs Jagan,” the Andhra Pradesh High Court noted that it was not unheard of for Government employees to be involved with various self-help groups.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao orally remarked:

“Achievements of a particular government from the North get published in newspapers in this side of the country. Every government tries to highlight its achievements, and also inform the people about the welfare schemes they have to offer. So, it’s a sort of publicity, but also to some extent to spread information. The government also propagates various schemes in the way of booklets. In fact, when I was acting as a Chairperson of the Legal Services, we also created a booklet to highlight various schemes floated by the government for the welfare of society. And we had instructed the officers in our department, to work in conjecture with the government, to propagate such schemes. Hence, this is not something unknown. In Jammu and Kashmir, we worked with the unorganized sector, there too the government was involved with the various self-help groups. You may only be right to the extent, whether when a government policy can be pushed in the name of a single person or not.”

The petitioner claimed that the program “Why AP needs Jagan” was a political campaign, funded by the government, and in the name of Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, but not under his official capacity as CM of the State.

The petitioner further contended that the program was taken up by the present ruling party, Y S R Congress Party in the state for its political gain, and as such, it could not be allowed to use money from the public exchequer for the program or to instruct government officials and public servants to run errands for the program.

The petitioner prayed that appropriate action be taken against the state respondents who had joined hands to patronize the ruling party

The petitioner stated that the program was announced at a press conference after which the government passed G.O. No. 7 of 13.10.2023, allocating Rs 20 crores to the program. The petitioner also stated that despite making multiple efforts to get hold of the G.O., all his efforts were futile. He stated that the G.O. was not published online or anywhere else, including the official state website.

The petitioner relied on ongoing proceedings before the District Collector of Kurnool, wherein, government employees who had not participated in the program had received punitive show-cause notices.

According to the petitioner, during the program, employees of the State, apart from distributing booklets door-to-door were also directed to hoist flags outside of their respective government buildings on the instructions of the YSR Congress Party.

“Promotion of individual cannot be allowed with government funds and that government employees cannot be mandated to take part in a political campaign,” the petitioner vehemently contended.

Chief Justice Thakur explained that when there is a newly-introduced welfare scheme which is required to be bought to the knowledge of the citizens, it is not unheard of for the government to work with self-help groups and allocate funds for the same.

The Bench, however, acknowledged that it may not be right to promote such a welfare scheme in the name of a single individual and directed the State to file a reply in the matter.

Although the petitioner prayed for an interim order, stating that the program had already been running for 15 days, the bench was not inclined to grant any such relief.

The matter has been posted for hearing after four weeks.

WP(PIL) 195/2023

Counsel for petitioner: Umesh Chandra P V G