‘Clock’ Symbol Case: Supreme Court Asks Ajit Pawar-Led NCP To Give Details of Ads Issued Following Its Order

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 3, asked Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to give details on newspaper advertisements issued in compliance of its order which instructed the faction to run all publicity with disclaimer that allocation of 'Clock' symbol to it is sub judice.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the faction led by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister, to furnish the details of advertisements issued after Sharad Pawar alleged that they are not complying with the court's March 19 order.

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The bench said, "Mr Rohatgi you have your instructions on how many advertisements were issued after this order. We might be required to take a look at whether he (Ajit Pawar) is behaving like this. Nobody has a right to deliberately misconstrue our order."

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Sharad Pawar faction, said that on March 19, this court passed a reasoned order in which they (Ajit Pawar group) was asked to issue advertisements that the allocation of 'clock' symbol is sub judice before this court and they were permitted to use the same subject to final outcome of these proceedings.

Earlier on March 19, the apex court had directed the Ajit Pawar grop to issue a public notice in the newspapers in English, Hindi, and Marathi editions notifying that the allocation of the 'clock' symbol is sub judice before this court, and the respondent has been permitted to use the same subject to the final outcome of these proceedings. "Such a declaration shall be incorporated in every pamphlet, advertisement, audio or video clip to be issued by the respondent (NCP) political party," the top court had said.