SC asks Ajit faction to furnish details of steps taken to implement its order

Says nobody has a right to deliberately misconstrue its order, disclaimer must for ads in newspapers

SC to Ajit NCP: Submit details of ads with clock symbol disclaimer

The SC had directed the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to put out ads in the media stating that the allocation of the “clock” symbol was sub-judice. (File Photo)

Stating that nobody has a right to misconstrue its order, the Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was recognised as the real NCP by the Election Commission after the split in the party, to appraise it about the steps taken to implement its direction regarding the use of the ‘Clock’ symbol allotted to it.

On March 19, the Supreme Court, while allowing the Sharad Pawar group to use the name ‘Nationalist Congress Party – Sharad Chandra Pawar’ and symbol “man blowing turrah (trumpet)” for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections, had also asked the Ajit Pawar group, which was allotted the “clock” symbol of the undivided NCP, “to issue a public notice in the newspapers in English, Marathi and Hindi editions, notifying that the allocation of the “clock” symbol is sub-judice and the respondents shall be permitted to use the same subject to the final outcome of the proceedings”.

On Wednesday, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sharad Pawar, told the bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan that the Ajit Pawar group had not complied with the March 19 order and had instead filed a petition seeking modification of the order.

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Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the Ajit Pawar group, referred the bench to some advertisements which carried the requisite disclaimer. Contending that the matter is yet to be finally decided, Rohatgi said all he was seeking is that in future, the last line of the order be modified. The last line said that the “declaration (about the symbol) shall be incorporated in every template, advertisement, audio or video clip issued on behalf of the… party.”

The court said that its order will have to continue till the polls conclude and added, “nobody has a right to deliberately misconstrue our order”. It asked Rohatgi to “get…instructions on how many advertisements were issued after” its March 19 order. The bench also added, “We might be required to take a view if he (Ajit Pawar) is behaving like this”.

Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999. Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde.

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