Chief Justice shuns publicity: a sign of probity in public life
16 Jan, 2014
Chief Justice of India (CJI) P. Sathasivam was the chief guest at the event marking the release of India’s first customised pincode to the Supreme Court by the postal department and Union minister Kapil Sibal presided over it.
Documents reveal as a result of an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activist Subhash Agarwal has revealed that a request was sent to CJI seeking permission to publish his photograph in a government advertisement. The postmaster-general Rajinder Kashyap requested the registrar administration and protocol M.A. Sayeed on September 24 seeking permission for publishing it by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity. The office of the CJI refused permission to publish his photograph in the advertisement as per the file notings obtained under the RTI Act. The notings mention “Due to non-permission from the CJI, the photograph of Chief Justice of India could not be published on September 26, 2013 advertisement.”
At a time where most of the persons seem to show an eagerness to appear on the newspapers and magazines even in an advertisement at government expenses, this step, though small, is a welcome sign.