Applications must comply fully with stipulated documentation under the Press Council Act and related rules; non-compliance can lead to rejection regardless of prior acceptance.

JUDGMENT

DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, C.J.

CHALLENGE

1. This petition invoking our jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed challenging the notification dated 28.10.2024 whereby, “associations of persons” have been notified by the Press Council of India (hereinafter referred to as the „Council‟) under Section 5 (4) of the Press Council Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the „Act, 1978‟) read with Press Council (Procedure for Notification of Associations of Persons) Rules, 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the „Rules, 2021‟), for the purposes of constitution of 15^th term of the Council. In fact, challenge is to non-inclusion of the petitioner in the said notification.

2. The petitioner has also challenged the report of the Scrutiny Committee dated 10.09.2024 whereby, its claim for nomination as an “association of persons” for the category referred to in Section 5 (3)(a) of the Act, 1978 has been rejected.

3. The petitioner also seeks a direction to be issued to the respondents to re-evaluate the claims for nominations of “associations of persons” pursuant to the notice dated 09.06.2024.

FACTS

4. Press Council of India is a statutory body incorporated under Section 4 of the Act, 1978 and is a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal.

5. Section 5 of the Act, 1978 provides for composition of the Council which consists of a Chairman and twenty eight other Members. Out of twenty eight other Members of the Council, thirteen are nominated from amongst the working Journalists of whom six are Editors of newspapers and seven are working Journalists other than Editors. Six persons are to be nominated from amongst persons who own or carry on business of management of newspapers. One Member is nominated amongst persons who manage news agencies and three persons are those who have special knowledge or practical experience in education, science, law and literature and culture, of whom one is nominated by University Grants Commission, one by the Bar Council of India and one by the Sahitya Academy. Rest five Members are Members of Parliament of whom three are nominated by the Speaker from amongst the Members of the Lok Sabha and two are nominated by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha from amongst its Members. For the purposes of nomination of thirteen Members from amongst working Journalists and also for nominating six persons from amongst persons who own or carrying on business of management of newspapers and also for nominating one Member from persons who manage news agencies, the retiring Chairperson of the previous Council has to invite panels of names comprising twice the number of Members to be nominated from “associations of persons” of the working Journalists, those who own or carry on the business of management of newspapers and also those who manage news agencies. All persons are nominated as Members of the Council by the Council (except in the case of the First Council) and on nomination of persons as Members, the Central Government notifies names of persons nominated by the Council as its members. In the instant case, we are concerned with nominations of working Journalists in terms of (3)(a) of the Act, 1978.

6. Section 5 of the Act, 1978 is extracted herein below:

“5. Composition of the Council.—(1) The Council shall consist of a Chairman and twenty-eight other members.

(2) The Chairman shall be a person nominated by a Committee consisting of the Chairman of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), the Speaker of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and a person elected by the members of the Council under sub-section (6) and the nomination so made shall take effect from the date on which it is notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette.

(3) Of the other members—

(a) thirteen shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among the working journalists, of whom six shall be editors of newspapers and the remaining seven shall be working journalis