The Madras High Court on Wednesday recalled a judgment passed by it last year directing the State government to constitute the Press Council of Tamil Nadu (PCTN) to protect the interests of genuine journalists and clamp down on the fake ones who indulge in illegal and unethical practices such as blackmailing industrialists, businessmen, government officials and politicians for their unjust enrichment.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy recalled the entire judgment delivered by another Division Bench since it contained a slew of directions unconnected to a couple of writ petitions filed by a journalist against former Idol Wing-CID special officer A.G. Ponn Manickavel. The judges said those directions had nothing to do with the subject matter of the two cases.
After recalling the verdict, the judges directed the Registry to list both the cases for hearing afresh after two weeks. Apart from constitution of the PCTN headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court, the previous Bench had also ordered that the council should have sole authority to recognise press clubs and journalists’ associations or unions in the State and it should conduct elections to those bodies.
