A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan directed the Union Government and Mont Blanc’s India unit to file their reply in four weeks to a petition filed by two advocates seeking direction to restrain the company from using the image of the Father of the Nation to promote the limited edition pens.

Advocates Harsh Vardhan Surana and Sandeep Singh submitted:  “How could a company misuse the name of Mahatma Gandhi who lived his life with bare minimum needs?’’

Surana said the company had paid Rs 75 lakh to the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation owned by some of his relatives to purchase the right to use Gandhi’s image on the pen.

The lawyers said it was an “attempt by some money-minded people to misuse the greatness of the Father of the Nation by using him as a poster boy for commercial gains under the pretext of honouring him.”