HC seeks MHA reply on selection of logos

On Wednesday,a Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri admitted his petition and asked the central governments counsel,Jatan Singh,to file a counter affidavit in four weeks.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on a petition which said there are no uniform guidelines for public competitions to select symbols and logos of entities of national importance.

Petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh,who had earlier challenged the selection of the Rupee symbol,approached the Bench again in the wake of the courts suggestion that he should file a PIL instead to raise general concern over lack of guidelines.

On Wednesday,a Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri admitted his petition and asked the central governments counsel,Jatan Singh,to file a counter affidavit in four weeks.

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The MHA must inform the court if there are guidelines in place for convening public competitions for selection of such symbols and how the government ensures equal opportunities for all citizens to participate,if there are no such guidelines.

Singh highlighted selection of five symbols Indian Rupee,UID,I Mark,Railways and RTI. He said selection of all these symbols lacked democratic process and deprived several people of the right to participate and be counted for their ideas. There was lack of wider national participation and (such competitions) are conducted in a manner to benefit selected groups, the petition said,adding that the process was repugnant to the concept of participative society.

Singh added that the advertisements for public competitions were usually issued only in English,in complete violation of the Official Language Act. Also,in the case of selection of the UID symbol,entries were sought only by e-mails,thereby depriving many people not conversant with computers from participating,he said.

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