Supreme Court to hear Kerala Union of Working Journalists plea on October 21
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on October 21 (soon after the Dasara vacation) the petition filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) seeking directions to open media rooms attached to the High Court and other courts in Kerala. The petition was mentioned by advocate Wills Mathews before the Bench comprising CJI T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud. Initially, the CJI asked the petitioner to approach the High Court as it will be in a better position to take care of itself.
The CJI said, “It is basically a dispute between the Bar and media and should be settled by the HC of Kerala.” When the petitioner expressed difficulty in approaching the HC, the Bench agreed to hear the petition on October 21. KUWJ said the present Writ Petition is being filed in view of the extra-ordinary circumstances prevailing in the state of Kerala in view of restrictions imposed on court reporters in accessing the HC and the media room of the High Court of Kerala and other court premises in the state. The arbitrary closure of media rooms and denial of access to the court for reporting is a gross violation of Article 14, 19(i)(a) ,(g), and Article 21 of the Constitution.
It said the media room came to be closed by order of the Registrar of the High Court in the wake of certain unfortunate events took place in the High Court complex on 19.07.2016 and 20.07.2016. At the outset, it is submitted that the Petitioner Union does not justify or approve of any act of violence from any quarter. The incident occurred more than two months ago and at this juncture, the endeavor of the petitioner union is only to rebuild loss of the trust between the members of two professions.
The Petitioner Union is also not interested in making the present proceedings adversarial and the limited prayers in the present Writ Petition are confined to facilitate a democratic, and dignified working atmosphere for the members of petitioner, by permitting access to the courts and for opening the media rooms, which remain closed even today. In order to resolve the issue the Petitioner Union has been making various representations to the The Governor of Kerala, Chief Minister, Acting Chief Justice of Kerala, Advocate General and the Registrar of High Court of Kerala, but there are no effective steps being taken.
It submitted that the exclusion of the court reporters, for pleasing only a section of lawyers community is unfair and unjustified. Since lawyers of High Court of Kerala, Judges and office of the Advocate General are involved in the issue and parties at various stages of mediation and attempts for resolution, for the sake of removing any remotest likely hood of bias, the present Writ Petition is being filed before this court, in the interest of justice, the petition said and prayed for a direction to have easy access to court halls and media rooms to the journalists.
