The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition filed by film producer Nilesh Navlakha seeking the establishment of an independent regulatory media tribunal for expeditious hearing of complaints filed by viewers against media businesses.
The bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian heard the plea and issued notice on the matter.
The petitioner, through Advocates Rajesh Inamdar, Shashwat Anand and Amit Pai, submitted that the importance of the Tribunal is necessary in order to maintain balance between the right to freedom of speech and expression of the media and the adjoining right to information of the citizens and right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petitioner pointed out that self-regulation of the media cannot be the answer to the present problem. The petitioner urged the Court for directions for setting up an independent high-powered committee headed by a retired Chief Justice or Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court and consisting of distinguished citizens from different fields/professions and concerned stakeholders of the Central Government to scrutinize and review the entire legal framework relating to media business regulation and recommend appropriate guidelines to be laid down by the Supreme Court.
The petitioner submitted, “Over the last few years, media trials, hate speech, propaganda news, paid news, have become the order of the day, thereby impeding the right to fair and proportionate reporting. It is submitted that reckless reportage by the electronic media without accountability can, by no stretch of imagination, be read into the right to freedom of speech and expression enjoyed by the electronic media.”