The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation which challenged the government’s practice of displaying pictures and portraits of the Deputy Chief Minister in public and government offices across the State. The petition was brought by one Yemu London Rao, who argued that this practice violated Article 14 of the Constitution by treating citizens unequally and giving undue preference or prominence to certain individuals.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Ravi Cheemalapati, considered the challenge. The bench observed that there was no law or statute which prohibited the display of the Deputy Chief Minister’s portrait in public offices, and the mere display did not in itself infringe constitutional rights of citizens. The Court explicitly stated that it did not see how the display could affect any citizen’s rights under the Constitution in the absence of a specific legal prohibition against it.
The Court also found that the petition appeared to be brought with a political motive rather than any genuine legal grievance. It referred to precedents of the Supreme Court—specifically the judgments in Dattaraj Nathuji Thaware v. State of Maharashtra and State of Uttaranchal v. Balwant Singh Chaufal—emphasizing that PILs must be used with caution, and only when the petitioner shows bona fides and that the matter is truly in the interest of the public. The bench held that when PILs are filed for extraneous or political considerations, they do not merit interference by the courts.
As a result, the High Court struck down the PIL in its entirety, refusing to order removal of the portraits or grant any relief in regard to the State’s practice of displaying images of the Deputy CM in government offices.
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