State of Karnataka v. Common Cause and Ors.
Background
This matter arose from a batch of writ petitions (including the well-known "Common Cause" litigation) in which the Supreme Court, by its judgment dated 13 May 2015, had restricted government-funded advertisements from carrying photographs of politicians, permitting only limited exceptions for the President, Prime Minister, and Chief Justice of India (subject to those authorities' own decision). Several states and other parties, including the State of Karnataka, filed review petitions seeking modification of that ruling to extend similar leeway to other functionaries.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court partly allowed the review, modifying its earlier 13 May 2015 judgment. It extended the photograph exception already carved out for the President, Prime Minister, and Chief Justice to Governors and Chief Ministers of the states. It also permitted that, instead of the Prime Minister's photograph, the photograph of the Cabinet/Departmental Minister in charge of the concerned ministry could be published, and similarly at the state level the photograph of the concerned state minister could substitute for the Chief Minister's photograph. All other directions from the original 2015 judgment were left undisturbed, and the review petitions were disposed of on these modified terms.
Lesson Learnt
Even after a final Supreme Court judgment, parties can seek a limited review to fine-tune how a ruling applies in practice, here, broadening a narrow photograph exception to cover equivalent functionaries at the state level, without disturbing the substance of the original decision restricting personality-driven government advertising at public expense.