SC to deliver verdict of media guidelines tomorrow

A constitution bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia had reserved its judgement on May 3 after 17 days of hearing which had started on March 27.

The issue was referred to the constitution bench after the leakage of certain documents to the media relating to dispute between Sahara group and market regulator SEBI.

However, when the hearing started, the court expanded its ambit and gave opportunity to others who in the recent past had felt aggrieved due to the publication and broadcast of sub-judice matter.

During the hearing, the bench had permitted all the parties to present their views on it and subsequently the Editors Guild of India, the Press Council of India, the National Broadcasters Association and some national dailies and individual reporters had argued in the case opposing any regulation for media reporting.

While majority of the parties were of the view that the apex court did not have inherent powers to lay guidelines on the issue which falls in the domain of legislature, some favoured guidelines to protect the interest the litigants.

The bench, also comprising justices D K Jain, S S Nijjar, Ranjana Prakash Desai and J S Khehar, had said it wanted to have a proper balance between Article 21 (Right to Life and Liberty) and Article 19 (1) (A) (Freedom of Speech and Expression) of the Constitution.

It had observed that its intervention is required to safeguard administration of justice in the absence of any specific law to regulate legal reporting and had came out with the idea of temporary ban on sub-judice matter which was opposed by the journalists' bodies.