New Delhi: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry not to use its October 21 order against news channels that said the Prime Minister should not be compared to any other political leader.
The court gave order on the PIL filed by social activist Dr Nutan Thakur praying to quash the Advisory passed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Bench of Chief Justice Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud and Justice Rituraj Awasthi said the Advisory whereby the Electronic news channels have been said that their licence will be cancelled in case they compare the Prime Minister with any other political leaders should be used only for compliance of rules and regulations and not beyond.
The petition said that the Ministry issued this Advisory threatening penal provision in Section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 because many news channels compared PM Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi for their Independence Day speech which the Ministry found “indecent” and “bad in taste”.
The ministry had found the comparison "indecent" and "bad in taste".
Calling this Advisory merely for comparing a political leader with PM a dictatorial step to curb the independence of Media, Dr Thakur had prayed for its immediate quashing in larger public interest.
