Mamata government can't deny ads to CPI-M mouthpiece: Calcutta HC

Observing that "political affiliation is not an impediment", the Calcutta High Court has rejected the contentions of the Trinamool Congress government for denying advertisement to CPI-M Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti.

The Bengali daily had approached the Calcutta High Court in 2012 alleging discrimination claiming that the Mamata Banerjee-headed West Bengal government has refused to give any advertisement to the publication.

"Political affiliation per se would not disentitle a newspaper from publishing itself. The nature of ownership of a newspaper cannot be criteria to deny advertisement by a government," the bench of Justice Debanagsu Basak said in its order issued on February 27 but only made available now.

"Ganashakti" had claimed in the writ petition that advertisements were denied to the publication since May 20, 2011 after the Trinamool came in power in the state.

The affidavit filed by the state government did not deny the claim, but defended its decision on the grounds that the newspaper was owned and published by the West Bengal state committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and giving it ads would amount to funding a political party by the government.

'Ganashakti's counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya argued that the newspaper was accredited by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and recognised by the central government's Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) so the right to free speech was a fundamental right.

Referring to an earlier order passed by the Guwahati High Court, the bench observed that the government has the power to remove a newspaper from approved list of newspapers entitled to publish after giving notice of show cause but it "does not have power to regulate circulation of newspaper by giving less advertisement which is not following its policies".