Chief Minister Has Consented To Constitution Of Press Council Of Tamil Nadu: State Informs Madras High Court

A new status report has been filed by the TN Director of Information & Public Relations, V.P Jayaseelan, indicating that Chief Minister M.K Stalin has given his consent to constitute the Press Council of Tamil Nadu.

The status report filed before the Madras High Court also states that the process of circulation and approval required from competent authorities for the formation of the Press Council will be completed soon. According to the new status report, the government order pertaining to the 'Tamil Nadu State News Representative Media Accreditation Rules, 2021' will likely be notified after the completion of urban local body polls.

The status report dated 15th February was filed by the Department of Information and Development in pursuance of the court order dated 19th August, 2021, which directed the Tamil Nadu government to create a Press Council of Tamil Nadu (PCTN) that would act as a State-level media regulatory body.

Yesterday, the first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy had taken note of the submissions made by the Department. The bench adjourned the matter to be taken up after four weeks to throw further light on the process that must be undertaken for the proposed formation of the State Press Council.

In the previous status report filed by the Department, it was mentioned that clarification was sought from the government as to whether a Press Council could be constituted and Rules be issued in the form of a Government order to speed up the process. The status report also stated that a name list of retired High Court Judges/ Supreme Court Judges who can be appointed as the Chairman of the Press Council and a name list of retired IAS officials/ IPS officials who can be appointed as members were also obtained.

The status report added that Advocate General R. Shanmugasundaram, while vetting the TN State Media News Representatives Accreditation Rules, 2021, opined that no exclusive power has been given to the State Government to form a Press Council under the Press Council Act, 1978.

Moreover, when the matter was taken up by the first bench of Madras High Court on 9th February, Advocate General had iterated his stand and mentioned that the Press Council of India Act does not empower the state to form its own Press Council. Accordingly, the matter was adjourned to be listed after a week's time.

Pertinently, Section 4 of the Act empowered the Central Government to establish the Press Council of India. Moreover, Section 25 of the Act grants Centre the power to make Rules under the Act.

The previous status report also informed the opinion of the TN Law Department which suggested that there was no impediment to the formation of state press council in light of Entry 39, List III of VIIth Schedule of the Constitution. According to the Law Department, Press Council of India Act was enacted drawing power from the said entry. The state legislature is also empowered to enact a similar law invoking the same entry for the supervision of Print Media exclusively, the status report marked the observations of the Law Department. It was specifically clarified by the Law Department that the proposed Press Council of TN couldn't govern the Online Portals or Social Media.

Since the power for the enactment of the law is drawn from Entry 39 of the Concurrent List, the Law Department also mentioned that the law must be reserved for the assent of the President under Article 254 to avoid repugnancy.

On 22nd December, the first bench of Madras High Court had expressed concerns over the soundness of the judgment passed by a division bench of the High Court earlier, directing constitution of a state-level Press Council to clamp down on fake journalists and paid news. According to the first bench, such a direction could not have been issued prima facie, in the absence of a statutory provision to the effect. The court had also asked the members of the Bar and the Press Council of India to assist in the matter.

In light of the above observation, the previous status report also stated that the High Court can examine the issue about the soundness of the directions passed by exercising its suo motu review powers.

The 19th August Order also directed the state government to frame the accreditation rules in pursuance of which the Tamil Nadu State News Media Representative  Accreditation Rules 2021 was put up for circulation through the Law Department. The status report also mentions that the Law Department deemed it fit to wait for the outcome of the review application pending before the first bench about the 19th August Order before making the above amendment to the 2002 Rules.

The final conclusion by the State Government in the first Status Report filed was that it cannot form a press council exclusively for the print media since partiality cannot be shown with regards to online and social media.

Case Title: S.Sekaran v. The State Of Tamil Nadu & Ors., S. Sekaran v. The Director General Of Police & Ors. etc.

Case No: WP/32091/2019 (PIL) & WP 31647/2019 (PIL) & Review Application 175/ 2021

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