The Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order restraining it from naming welfare schemes after living politicians and using the photographs of former chief ministers, ideological leaders and political party symbols in advertisements, Live Law reported on Monday.

Chief Justice BR Gavai agreed to hear the plea on Wednesday after advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state, sought an urgent listing, calling the matter “extremely unusual”, Bar and Bench reported.

On Thursday, the High Court passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP C Ve Shanmugam.

He had sought directions to stop the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government from using Chief Minister MK Stalin’s name in public outreach programmes such as Ungaludan Stalin (With You, Stalin) and Mudhalvarin Mugavari (Chief Minister’s Address).

Shanmugam had argued that such practices violated the Supreme Court’s earlier directions as well as the Government Advertisement Content Regulation Guidelines, 2014.

The court referred to an earlier Supreme Court ruling that allows using the current chief minister’s photo in government ads, but said including former leaders or party icons could be seen as political misuse of public funds, the Hindustan Times reported.

It also barred the state government from naming or rebranding schemes after living persons.