Ungaludan Stalin and Nalam Kaakkum Stalin: Madras High Court to wait for Supreme Court orders on naming schemes after living personalities

The Hindu

a day ago

The Madras High Court on Monday (August 4, 2025) decided to wait for the orders to be passed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 6) on an appeal preferred by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) against the High Court's July 31 interim order prohibiting the use of the name of any living personality in the nomenclature of government schemes.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan, senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Member of Parliament C.Ve. Shanmugam, said, the DMK had filed an appeal and made a mention before the top court on Monday.
The Supreme Court had agreed to take up the appeal for hearing on Wednesday, the Bench was told. Immediately, the Chief Justice decided to adjourn a modification/clarification petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government before the High Court to Thursday (August 7), since it was the same interim order that had been taken on appeal to the top court.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Advocate General P.S. Raman tried to persuade the Chief Justice's bench that the clarification/modification petition filed by the State government could be heard by the High Court dehors the appeal filed by the DMK before the Supreme Court. However, the Chief Justice felt it would be better to await the top court's decision.
The Bench had passed the interim orders on July 31, following a public interest litigation petition filed by Mr. Shanmugam questioning the use of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's name in the public outreach programme titled 'Ungaludan Stalin.' After the release of the order on August 1, the Tamil Nadu government sought a clarification that it would not apply to 'Ungaludan Stalin' and 'Nalam Kaakkum Stalin' schemes.
Since the Chief Justice's bench agreed to hear the modification/clarification petition on August 4, the government went ahead and launched the 'Nalam Kaakkum Stalin' scheme on August 2. This prompted Mr. Shanmugam to file a contempt of court petition too, through his counsel K. Gowtham Kumar, against Public Department Secretary Rita Harish Thakkar and Health Secretary P. Senthil Kumar on Monday.
In the meantime, the DMK preferred an appeal against the High Court's interim order and also obtained permission from the top court to get it heard on August 6.