The Hindu : SC ruling on Press Council Act

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Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002

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SC ruling on Press Council Act

By T. Padmanabha Rao

NEW DELHI MARCH 19. Clause (7) of Section 6 of the Press Council Act, 1978, "does not disqualify or make ineligible a person from holding the office of a member of the Council for more than two terms in his life,'' the Supreme Court has ruled.

"A member is disqualified for being a member for the third term in continuation in view of his having held the office of membership for more than two terms just preceding, one of which terms, the later one, was held on re-nomination,'' the Bench said. Delivering the judgment, R.C. Lahoti, set aside the verdict of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court which held that Clause (7) of the Section 6 did "not allow a member to hold office for more than two terms in his life-time'' and that, therefore, Harbhajan Singh (appellant) was not eligible for nomination to membership of the Press Council for the term commencing 1998 in view of his having held membership of the Council for two terms _ 1982-1985 and 1985-1988.

Allowing an appeal from the appellant, the Bench who included K.G. Balakrishnan, restored the judgment of a single judge of the Delhi High Court quashing the decision of the Press Council of India rejecting the nomination of the appellant for the term commencing 1998.

Its interpretation on the crucial terms of Clause (7) of Section 6 "does not lead to any hardship, inconvenience, injustice, absurdity or anomaly and, therefore, the rule of ordinary and natural meaning being followed cannot be departed from,'' the Bench noted.

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