Common Cause Updates

Petition to restrain the use of public funds for political campaigning through government advertisements: State governments across the country have started to roll out extensive advertising campaigns outside the territory of their respective states for projecting personalities and promoting particular parties without the interest of the target audience or prime beneficiaries of that government’s achievements, policies and welfare measures. Common Cause filed a petition to restrain the unnecessary use of public funds on government advertisements in ways that are completely malafide and arbitrary and amount to breach of trust, abuse of office, in violation of the directions/guidelines issued by this court and are a violation of fundamental rights of citizens. In this regard, six specific issues were pointed out:

• Publication of advertisements by state governments outside the territorial limits of their respective states 
• Publication of government advertisements in the form of ‘advertorials’ 
• Publication of government advertisements during/prior to the elections 
• Issues concerning the ‘Committee on Content Regulation of Government Advertisements’ (CCRGA) 
• Publication of photographs of functionaries on government advertisements 
• Advertisements in the name of awareness campaigns

The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 13-05-2015 in Common Cause vs. Union of India (2015) 7 SCC 1, had issued several guidelines aimed at regulating government advertisements in order to check the misuse of public funds by central and state governments. The five principles of those guidelines were as follows:

• Advertising campaigns are to be related to government responsibilities,
• Materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner and designed to meet objectives of the campaign,
• Not directed at promoting political interests of a party,
• Campaigns must be justified and undertaken in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and
• Advertisements must comply with legal requirements and financial regulations and procedures

The objectives behind rolling out these guidelines, as pointed out in the judgment were as follows:

• To prevent arbitrary use of public funds for advertising by public authorities to project particular personalities, parties or governments without any attendant public interest
• Neither to belittle the need nor to deny the authority of the union and state governments and its agencies to disseminate information necessary for public to know on the policies and programmes of the government but only to exclude the possibility of any misuse of public funds on advertisement campaigns in order to gain political mileage by the political establishment
• To address the gaps in the existing DAVP Guidelines which only deal with the eligibility and empanelment of newspapers/journals or other media, their rates of payment, and such like matters and not on how to regulate the content of government advertisements
• To ensure that “all government activities satisfy the test of reasonableness and public interest, COMMON CAUSE UPDATES 38 | July-September, 2022 COMMON CAUSE | Vol. XLI No. 3 particularly while dealing with public funds and property”
• to ensure that government messaging is well co-ordinate, effectively managed in the best democratic traditions and is responsive to the diverse information needs of the public.

On September 26, 2022, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli heard the petition to restrain the use of public funds for political campaigning through advertisements. After hearing Mr. Bhushan, notice has been issued to the respondents. The case is likely to be listed next on November 11, 2022.

Petition seeking timely and transparent appointments to the Central Vigilance Commission: Although, vacancies for the post of Vigilance Commissioner and Central Vigilance Commissioner were advertised for more than 15 months and 5 months respectively, no appointments had been made pursuant thereto. This resulted in crippling of the commission to the extent that against a sanctioned strength of a threemember commission (one chairperson and two members), it was functioning with only one Vigilance Commissioner who had been authorised “to act as the Central Vigilance Commissioner...until the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner.” In Vineet Narain v. Union of India (1998) 1 SCC 226, to ensure the effective functioning and that the commission could act as a robust ‘integrity institute’ it was made a multi-member body and given a statutory status. The scheme and object of the act of 2003 specifically envisioned that the commission should function as a multi-member body and should take decisions unanimously to the extent possible. Non-appointment of the Vigilance Commissioner and Central Vigilance Commissioner for extended periods therefore stultified the statutorily sanctioned working of the commission.

Common Cause approached the Supreme Court with a prayer for issuance of direction to the executive to take urgent steps to appoint Vigilance Commissioner and Central Vigilance Commissioner in pursuance of the advertisements that had been issued on 20.07.2020 and 04.05.2021 respectively. The petition also prayed that all details and documents regarding the selection process/appointments to be made to Central Vigilance Commission be placed in public domain. The matter was taken up on September 5, 2022 and notice was issued. It is likely to be listed on October 10, 2022.

Illegal Mining in Odisha: This matter was listed several times in 2022, where interlocutory applications filed by interested parties were disposed and directions issued on penalties to be paid.

Representations

Feedback on the Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy 2022: The Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy 2022 aimed to enhance access, quality, and use of data and radically transform India’s ability to harness public sector data and claimed to ensure greater citizen awareness, participation and engagement with open data. Common Cause provided feedback on issues of non-transparency, privacy, data security and emphasised on the need for a Data Protection Law

Inputs to the Technical Committee concerning the Pegasus India Investigation: The Technical Committee constituted to examine the allegations of alleged unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software appointed by the Supreme Court in WP(Crl) No 314 of 2021 released a questionnaire with 11 questions, seeking responses and comments from the general public. We responded to the questions revolving around safeguards and grievance redressal associated with state surveillance and surveillance technology and suggested substantive and procedural safeguards for a surveillance framework and the steps to improve cyber security.

Representation seeking compliance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgement in Common Cause v. Union of India [(2017) 9 SCC 499] with regard to violation of Rule 37 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960: Common Cause filed a representation with the Director of Mines & Additional Director of COMMON CAUSE | Vol. XLI No. 3 July-September, 2022| 39 Mines (Government of Odisha), Principal Secretary, Under Secretary and Joint Secretary (Department of Steel & Mines) and with the Special Secretary to the Government of Odisha, Department of Steel & Mines. The representation focussed on the violation of Rule 37 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 and illustrated a specific case as an example to urge the authorities to investigate the violators and take necessary action in this regard.

Comments/suggestions on the Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, 2022: On August 22, 2022, Common Cause submitted detailed and incisive comments/suggestions on Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, 2022 to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. While it understandable that in order to meet India’s evolving healthcare requirements, there is a need to build an innovative and globally competitive industry supported by a world-class infrastructure, enabling ecosystem, regulatory framework and quality manpower, the public health aspects must still be the primary focus of the Bill. The pharmaceutical and medical sector must focus on providing accessible, affordable, safe, and high-quality drugs and medical equipment to the patients along with promoting an innovative and self-sustainable industry. It was submitted that public health must be viewed from the citizen-centric lens, instead of making it a profit-making industry for corporate giants such as pharmaceutical companies and others. Transparency, accountability and access to information should be made mandatory under this bill. A due process of transparency builds confidence among the citizens and leads to good and responsible governance.

RTI Applications

SPIR 2022: We have filed RTI applications with all the states and union territories to check the status of the implementation of the Supreme Court in Paramvir Singh Saini vs. Baljit Singh & Others, SLP(Cr) No 3543 of 2020 dated December 2, 2020, mandating the installation of functioning CCTV cameras in all the police stations. The applications sought district-wise implementation in each state. We are in the process of receiving responses and the data will be used by the SPIR team for analysis.

Previously, we have also filed an application before the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in December 2021 to procure information on the syllabus/course structure of the “CCTV Footage Analysis” training of police personnel and other details. An RTI application was filed before the Public Information Officer, Public Works Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi to seek information about the CCTV cameras installed in public places across the capital. In addition, Common Cause filed an application with the CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs and another with the CPIO, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), seeking details of protocols on data collection through lawful interception and monitoring.

Labour: We have filed RTI Applications with the Ministry of Labour and Employment regarding the information under the Extra Reach for Unorganised Workers (DGLW) and the Transparent Central Labour Inspection Scheme for random inspection of units. The information sought under the Extra Reach for Unorganised Workers (DGLW) was regarding the state governments’ initiatives to enable better access for the unorganised workers to the social security schemes. The application also asked for the details of the monitoring authority and officials responsible for this as well as the frequency of such monitoring on the access provided by the states. The application on the Transparent Central Labour Inspection Scheme for random inspection of units requested for the list of the states that have joined Shram Suvidha Portal along with the access links. The application also asked for a detailed list of inspections for the period between January 2021 till March 2022.