No Justification For Granting Language-Based Accreditation To Journalists: Telangana HC Directs Govt To Follow Reasonable, Rational Standards

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti, held that the language-based criteria for media accreditation were indeed arbitrary and violated Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The court found that the language of a newspaper, irrespective of a number of pages or number of copies in circulation, cannot furnish reasonable and just criteria for extending the benefit of accreditation.

In its reasoning, the court emphasized that if the State Government decides to accord the benefit of a welfare scheme like accreditation to working journalists, it must be granted on fair, rational, and reasonable criteria. The bench suggested that fair and rational criteria could be based on the number of copies in circulation or number of pages in a newspaper or periodical, rather than language. It said:

“The aforesaid explanation is far from satisfactory. No justification has been offered in the counter for making a criterion for grant of Accreditation on the basis of language of a newspaper. If the State Government decides to accord benefit of a welfare scheme, namely, Accreditation, to the working journalists, it has to be granted on fair, rational and reasonable criteria. The fair and rational is criteria could be the number of copies in circulation or number of pages in circulation of a newspaper or periodical. However, the language of a newspaper, irrespective of number of pages or number of copies in circulation, cannot furnish reasonable and just criteria for extending the benefit of Accreditation. The respondents have utterly failed to offer any explanation for restricting the number of Accreditation Cards to only to the categories of Urdu newspapers and periodicals.”

Background:

The primary issue before the court was whether the state government could legitimately grant media accreditation benefits to working journalists based solely on the language of their publications. The petitioner, the Telangana Urdu Working Journalists Union, challenged this policy as illegal and arbitrary, arguing that it unfairly disadvantaged Urdu language journalists.

The court quashed Schedule-C and Schedule-F of the Telangana Media Accreditation Rules, 2016, which had outlined the accreditation entitlements for Urdu dailies and empanelled satellite news channels respectively.

In its judgment, the court emphasized that while it cannot sit in judgment over the wisdom of policy decisions, it can intervene when such policies are arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. The bench noted that if the state government decides to accord benefits of a welfare scheme like accreditation to working journalists, it must do so based on fair, rational, and reasonable criteria.

The petitioner argued that the policy discriminated against Urdu language journalists by restricting the number of accreditation cards available to them compared to their Telugu counterparts. They contended that this differentiation based on language was unjustified and violated the principles of equality.

The Bench noted, that the state government, in their counter-affidavit, failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for using language as a criterion for accreditation. The government merely stated that the petitioner association was registered after the formation of the accreditation committees, and therefore could not be included in them at the time.

The court found this explanation inadequate and observed that no justification had been offered for making language a criterion for granting accreditation. It suggested that fair and rational criteria could include factors such as circulation numbers or the number of pages in a publication, regardless of language.

In conclusion, the High Court directed the state government to formulate new guidelines within two months, taking into account rational and reasonable standards for granting accreditation benefits to working journalists across all languages. This judgment marks a significant step towards ensuring equal treatment of journalists regardless of the language of their publications.

“Needless to state that the State Government shall formulate the guidelines by taking into account the rational and reasonable standard for granting the benefit of Accreditation to the working journalists in Urdu Newspapers and Periodicals as well as for empanelled satellite news channels within a period of two (2) months from today," the Court concluded.

Thus, the writ was allowed.

Telangana Urdu Working Journalists Union vs. State of TS

WP 12051/2019

Counsel for petitioner: Vladimeer Khatoon

Counsel for respondents: S. Rahul Reddy, learned Special Government Pleader

Amicus Curiae: Vivek Jain.

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