The apex court bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad quashed the restraint order while observing, “How can the high court give such an ex parte order?”
The Allahabad High court had directed the Central and the State governments to ensure that there was reporting both by the print and the electronic media on the movement of troops.
“High court could not have passed such an order as there was no prayer in the petition to gag the media but had only sought an inquiry into the incident. The court also took note of the recent constitution bench judgment which had said that there could be no across the board guidelines for regulating the media” the apex court bench said.
The Allahabad High Court had imposed a ban on media reports on movement of army troops in the wake of a sensational report by a newspaper April this year alleging that there was a movement of troops at the height of the age controversy of the former Army chief, Gen. V.K. Singh.
The Supreme Court was moved by the Press Council of India May this year, challenging the Allahabad High Court’s restraint order on the media. The government too joined the PCI in opposing the high court order.
The PCI in its plea had said that the high court order was in violation of Article 19(1) of the constitution guaranteeing free speech and expression that was available both to the people and the media as well.
