Mumbai Press Club Wins Case Against Ouster By Press Council Of India
….But the convening of the Press Council is delayed indefinitely!
It is shocking and disconcerting that the Press Council of India (PCI), an autonomous body created by an Act of Parliament and charged with protecting the freedom of the Press, has been reduced to a non-functional entity over the last few months.
The PCI is headed by a chairperson, traditionally a retired Supreme Court judge, and 28 other members representing working journalists, editors, newspaper owners and news agencies nominated or elected through a complex process of representation. Each press council has a three-year term, and the chairperson is mandated to set in motion the selection process so that a new press council is constituted as soon as the term of the previous one ends.
This continuity has been shattered. Nearly five months have passed since the 14th Press Council completed its term on 5 October 2024, but there is no sign of the 15th Press Council being constituted.
At the core of the crisis is the attempt to oust two important and active journalist bodies from representation in the Press Council – the Mumbai Press Club (MPC) and the Editors Guild of India (EGI). Both organizations are well known and are active in upholding the rights of the Fourth Estate. It is also significant that it was these two organizations that had taken the lead in the previous Press Council on issues such as the wrongful detention of journalists, the suppression of press persons in Jammu and Kashmir and the mass retrenchments of media personnel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps this was not appreciated in certain quarters.
The result: when called upon to present their credentials as bodies representing journalists for inclusion in the new 15th Press Council being set up, the Mumbai Press Club and the Editors Guild were disqualified by the PCI Scrutiny Committee. The decision was made public by the chairperson on 29 September 2024.
Small technical and irrelevant issues, such as documents not being notarized properly or registration certificates looking faded and ‘illegible,’ were cited as ‘reasons’ to reject the credentials of the two organizations. It is also significant that, among the sitting organizations that made up the 14th Press Council, only two—EGI and the MPC—were disqualified.
Thereafter, in a vindication of the stand of the Mumbai Press Club, the Delhi High Court passed judgement on 22 November 2024 setting aside the ‘recommendations’ of the Scrutiny Committee and including the name of the Club as a legitimate ‘Association of Persons’.
Justice Sanjeev Narula, in his order in the writ petition moved by the MPC, observed:
“….it becomes evident that the objections are either factually incorrect or legally untenable. The (Scrutiny) Committee’s approach appears to be overly formalistic, placing undue emphasis on procedural niceties. Administrative bodies vested with the power to affect rights and interests must exercise their discretion judiciously and fairly, adhering to the principles of natural justice. In this case, the Scrutiny Committee has failed to do so. The rejection of the Petitioner’s application is, therefore, arbitrary and cannot be sustained.”
The Editors Guild has also filed a writ petition against the rejection of its credentials before the Delhi High Court, and the matter is being heard by a bench composed of Chief Justice D K Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
Subsequent to the Delhi High Court ruling, the Chairperson of the Press Council has included the MPC in the list of legitimate organizations of journalists and sought nominations for membership to the 15th Press Council. However, in the interim, the Press Council has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court against the judgement and launched a legal course which has delayed and postponed the reconstitution of the new term of the Press Council indefinitely. In response, the Mumbai Press Club has questioned the authority of the chairperson to file a ‘Letters Patent Appeal’ on behalf of the Press Council, when the Council is not constituted.
In the meanwhile, those organizations of journalists who are not parties to the dispute find themselves sitting on the bench with no sign of the new Press Council being convened. In separate letters addressed to the chairperson, they have pointed out the national importance of a functional Press Council for safeguarding the rights of journalists and of the Press. There is no stay of any court against convening the body. The next date of hearing of these cases is 27th March 2025, and there is no guarantee the matter will be concluded on that date.
It is indeed surprising that the process of reconstitution of the 15th Press Council, which was started way back on 9th June 2024 with advertisements inviting press bodies to apply for inclusion as representative organizations, is yet to be concluded. Though 8 months have passed, there is still no sign of a functioning Press Council! Is the delay deliberate?
In this situation, the unified appeal of the working journalist organizations to end the stalemate, avoid legal machinations, and convene the 15th Press Council at the earliest, is very important.
The court order and a letter sent to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India are attached for your reference.
