NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed March 22 for hearing a PIL against all major political parties accusing them of misusing public money and government machinery for issuing advertisements praising its leaders.

Almost a sequel to an earlier PIL challenging the statue fetish of UP government, the petition filed by advocate Manoj Agnihotri was severe on the Congress party for adopting a flag almost similar to the national flag and launching programmes at the state and central level in the name of Nehru and Gandhi family members, purportedly to establish the Congress "brand".

When the petition was mentioned for early hearing by senior advocate Anil Divan before a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and Justices R M Lodha and B S Chauhan, it refused to expedite hearing and posted it for preliminary scrutiny on March 22.

The PIL listed as many as 100 educational institutions, six major ports and airports, 66 awards, 45 sports tournaments, 39 hospitals, 74 roads and buildings named after leaders of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

It alleged that all national parties -- Congress, SP, BSP, BJP, CPI and CPM -- had violated Election Commission guidelines and misused government funds for propagating the ideology of their parties.

The PIL sought immediate stop of this wastage of public money and freezing of symbols of these political parties and expeditious hearing by EC of its complaints.