SC dismisses restrictive media policies

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the legal provision of authorizing the government to seize the license of a broadcasting media for transmitting news.

In response to the writ filed by Narayan Dutta Kadel demanding dismissal of the provision under section 8 of the National Broadcasting Act 1992, a special bench comprising justices Anup Raj Sharma, Balaram KC and Tahir Ali Ansari, issued its verdict stating the provision was inconsistent with the spirit and press freedom guaranteed by the constitution.

The provision states that the government can cancel the license of a broadcasting agency if it is found broadcasting any matters not legalized under the act or under other regulations made according to it. The verdict of the special bench reads 'the provision in the act was inconsistent with the spirit and provision of the constitution and the earlier verdicts given by the Supreme Court.'

Similarly, the same bench in another writ filed by Kadel, has given its decision that the provision of Publications and Newspapers Act 1991, Section 15 (1) is inconsistent with the Article 13 of the constitution. The act provides power to the government to restrict any matter before publishing if government thinks it to be so.

The writ demanded to cancel all the provisions empowering the government to formulate policies or regulations to ban publishing or broadcasting any matter except the restrictive provision under Article 13 (1) of the constitution. The provision had empowered the government to formulate policy for restriction of specific news matters for specific period of time or allow publishing or broadcasting after censorship by appointed government official