Remove Modi, Chouhan's pictures from houses built under PMAY: MP HC

The Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday ordered removal of tiles bearing pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), a lawyer said.

A division bench of Justices Sanjay Yadav and Vivek Agrawal directed the government to file a compliance report in this regard by December 20, said advocate Ankur Modi.

The order came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by journalist Sanjay Purohit, he said. The petitioner's advocate argued that the houses were built using public money, and not for electoral benefits.

In its reply to the PIL, the Union government had said houses can carry only the logo of the PMAY, advocate Modi said.

The state government had submitted to the HC that it has modified its earlier order and mentioned that it is not mandatory to have pictures of the prime minister and the chief minister on tiles, said MP Advocate General Purushendra Kaurav.

They were awaiting a detailed order, Kaurav said.

After taking on record both submissions, the high court ordered the tiles bearing the pictures of Narendra Modi and Chouhan should be removed from houses built under the PMAY in Madhya Pradesh, advocate Modi said.

The opposition Congress had earlier demanded removal of these tiles, alleging that it was a ploy of the BJP government to influence voters ahead of the year-end Assembly elections.