The Delhi High Court has sought a response from the Central Government on a PIL filed against the use of defense officers and civil servants to highlight the achievements of the Central Government in the last nine years. During the hearing, the bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan first questioned why a welfare scheme should not be popularized.

Advertisements always contain photographs of Chief Ministers or Prime Ministers. Prima facie there is nothing wrong in popularizing one's plans through defense personnel.

Highlighting the schemes of only the last nine years, the Court said that every person wants to be aware of the latest schemes of the government. Not that anyone wants to know what happened 50 years ago, there's a Prime Minister's Museum for that.

The court also said that when the people were stranded in Uttarakhand, the Indian Army and NDRF did unprecedented work. If the Army wants to popularize it with the selfie point, I don't think anyone can complain.

On the issue of use of Prime Minister's photographs on selfie points, the court commented that is this not ideal? Every Chief Minister is putting photographs in advertisements?

With the above remarks, the court adjourned the hearing till January 4, directing the Central Government to file the status report. During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Central Government, opposed the petition and said that the petitioners are wrongly assuming that the government is a political party. He said that the Government of India and the party are different things.

IAS Sharma and others have filed a PIL challenging the use of civil servants and defense personnel to publicize government schemes and policies. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, alleged that this is a political propaganda by the government. He also said that misuse of public money cannot be allowed.

The petition demands cancellation of two orders issued by the government. In one of these, the Defense Ministry had directed the Army, Navy and Air Force to set up selfie points with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase the achievements of the Defense Ministry.

In the second order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, instructions were given to post Joint Secretaries/Directors/Deputy Secretaries as district in-charges to showcase the achievements of the Government of India in the last nine years.