TMI Blog1957 (9) TMI 50X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ,script. Since the partition of the country the Daily Pratap is being published simultaneously from Jullundur and from New Delhi Vir Arjun is a Hindi daily newspaper also published simultaneously from Jullundur and from New Delhi. Virendra, the petitioner, in Petition No. 95 of 1957 is the editor, printer and publisher of the two papers published from Jullundur and K. Narendra is the editor, printer and publisher of the two papers published from New Delhi. The petitioners allege that after the appointment of the States Reorganisation Commission on December 29, 1953, the Akali party in the Punjab started a campaign for the partition of the State of Punjab on communal and linguistic basis. According to the petitioners this agitation soon degenerated into a campaign of hatred which threatened the peace of the State. The petitioners maintain that the Hindu inhabitants of the State belonging to all shades of opinion and also a section of the Sikh community and the Congress Party were strongly opposed to that proposal. It is in the circumstances reasonable to infer that the Hindus would also indulge in a counter propaganda in the Press and from the platform against the agitation started ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tate Government or the delegated authority to impose pre-censorship. Sub-section (2) of s. 2 enables the State Government or the authority issuing the order in the event of any disobedience of an order made under s. 2 to order the seizure of all copies of any publication and of the printing press or other instrument or apparatus used in the publication. Section 3(1) runs as follows: The State Government or any authority authorised by it in this behalf, if satisfied that such action is necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating any activity prejudical to the maintenance of communal harmony affecting or likely to affect public order, may, by notification, prohibit the bringing into Punjab of any newspaper, periodical, leaflet or other publication. Sub-section (2) of s. 3 gives power to the State Government or the authority issuing the order, in the event of any disobedience of an order made under s. 3, to order the seizure of all copies of any newspaper, periodical, leaflet or other publication concerned. Section 4 provides punishment for the contravention of any of the provisions of the Act by imprisonment of either description which may extend to one year or w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d myself that action is necessary for combating the calculated and persistent propaganda carried on in the newspaper the Pratap' published at Jullundar to disturb communal harmony in the State of Punjab; And whereas the said propaganda by making an appeal to communal sentiments has created a situation which is likely to affect public order and tranquillity in the State ; And therefore in pursuance of the powers conferred under sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of section 2 of the said Act, 1 prohibit Shri Virendra, the printer, publisher and the editor of 'Pratap' from printing and publishing any article, report, news item, letter or any other material of any character whatso ever relating to or connected with save Hindi agitation for a period of two months from this date. Sd./ Rome Secretary to Government Punjab. No: 8472-C(H) 57/14679 The annexure referred to in the Notifications sets out the headings of fifteen several articles published in this paper between May 30, 1957, to July 8, 1957. Another Notification in identical terms with an annexure setting forth the heading of sixteen articles published during the same period in Vir Arjun was issued on the same ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... exercisable by them throughout and in all parts of the territory of India. The Notifications under s. 2(1)(a) prohibiting the printing and publishing of any article, report, news item, letter or any other material of any character whatsoever relating to or connected with save Hindi agitation or those under s. 3(1) imposing a ban against the entry and the circulation of the said papers published from New Delhi in the State of Punjab do not obviously take away the entire right, for the petitioners are yet at liberty to print and publish all other matters and are free to circulate the papers in all other parts of the territory of India. The restrictions, so far as they extend, are certainly complete but whether they amount to a total prohibition of the exercise of the fundamental rights must be judged by reference to the ambit of the rights and, so judged, there can be no question that the entire rights under Arts. 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) have not been completely taken away, but restrictions have been imposed upon the exercise of those rights with reference to the publication of only articles etc. relating to a particular topic and with reference to the circulation of the papers onl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ditions at the time, should all enter into the judicial verdict. This dictum has been adopted and applied by this Court in several subsequent cases. The surrounding circumstances in which the impugned law came to be enacted, the underlying purpose of the enactment and the extent and the urgency of the evil sought to be remedied have already been adverted to. It cannot be overlooked that the Press is a mighty institution wielding enormous powers which are expected to be exercised for the protection and the good of the people but which may conceivably be abused and exercised for anti- social purposes by exciting the passions and prejudices of a section of the people against another section and thereby disturbing the public order and tranquillity or in support of a policy which may be of a subversive character. The powerful influence of the newspapers, for good or evil, on the minds of the readers, the wide sweep of their reach, the modern facilities for their swift circulation to territories, distant and near, must all enter into the judicial verdict and the reasonableness of the restrictions imposed upon the Press has to be tested against this background. It is certainly a seri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... siness and to what extent? The answer was obvious, namely, that as the State Government was charged with the preservation of law and order in the State, as it alone was in possession of all material facts it would be the beat authority to investigate the circumstances and assess the urgency of the situation that might arise and to make up its mind whether any and, if so., what anticipatory action must be taken for the prevention of the threatened or anticipated breach of the peace The court is wholly unsuited to gauge the seriousness of the situation, for it cannot be in possession of materials which are available only to the executive Government. Therefore, the determination of the time when and the extent to which restrictions should be imposed on the Press must of necessity be left to the judgment and discretion of the State Government and that is exactly what the Legislature did by passing the statute' It gave wide powers to the State Government, or the authority to whom it might delegate the same, to be exercised only if it were satisfied as to the things mentioned in the two sections. The conferment of such wide powers to be exercised on the subjective satisfaction of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or suspend, revoke, cancel or modify any license under that order and, therefore, the power could be exercised by any person to whom the State Coal Controller might have chosen to delegate the same. No rules had been framed and no directions had been given on the relevant matters to regulate or to guide the exercise of the discretion of the licensing officer. That cannot, in our judgment, be said about s. 2 or s. 3 of the impugned Act, for the exercise of the power under either of these two sections is conditioned by the State Government or the authority authorised by the said Government being satisfied that such action was necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating any activity prejudicial to the maintenance of communal harmony affecting or likely to affect the public order. As explained by this Court in Harishankar Bagla v. The State of Madhya Pradesh, [1955] 1 S.C.R. 380, 386, 387 the dictum of Mukherjea, J., can have no application to a law which sets out its underlying policy so that the order-to be made under the law is to be governed by that policy and the discretion given to the authority is to be exercised in such a way as to effectuate that policy, and the confe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pose of securing public safety and the maintenance of public order . It was pointed out that whatever end the impugned Act might have been intended to subserve and whatever aim its framers might have had in view, its application and scope could not, in the absence of limiting words in the statute itself, be restricted to the aggravated form of activities which were calculated to endanger the security of the State. Nor was there any guarantee that those officers who exercised the power under the Act would, in using them, discriminate between those who acted prejudicially to the security of the State and those who did not. This consideration cannot apply to the case now under consideration. Article 19(2) has been amended so as to extend its protection to a law imposing reasonable restrictions in the interests of public order and the language used in the two sections of the impugned Act quite clearly and explicitly limits the exercise of the powers conferred by them to the purposes specifically mentioned in the sections and to no other purpose. Apart from the limitations and conditions for the exercise of the powers contained in the body of the two sections as hereinbefore mentione ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , news item, letter or any other matter of any character whatsoever relating to or connected with the save Hindi agitation . It is said that the petitioner cannot even publish a report or a letter from a correspondent against the it save Hindi agitation . It cannot publish a report of the statement made on the floor of the House by the Prime Minister deprecating the save Hindi agitation . This argument appears to us to have no real substance. If the section is good-and that is what we hold it to be and that is what, for the purposes of this part of the argument, learned counsel is prepared to assume- then the section has conferred on the State Government this power to be exercised if it is satisfied as to the necessity for its exercise for the purposes mentioned in the section. In other words the exercise of the power is made dependent on the subjective satisfaction of the State Government or its delegate. If the State Government or its delegate is satisfied that for the purposes of achieving the specified objects it is necessary to prohibit the publication of any matter relating to the save Hindi agitation then for the court to say that so much restriction is not necessar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at the risk of having to satisfy the court that for preventing the public order being prejudicially affected it was necessary to stop such circulation. That would be the issue before the court. Likewise if the Government launched a prosecution under s. 4 then also the issue would be the same. That would obviously defeat the very purpose of the section itself which, for this argument, is accepted as valid. The question of the necessity for the exercise of the power for the purpose of achieving the specified objects is, having regard to the very nature of the thing and the surrounding circumstances, left by the section entirely to the subjective satisfaction of the Government and if the Government exercises that power after being satisfied that it is necessary so to do for the purposes mentioned in the section and if the Notification is within the section, in the sense that it directs or prohibits the doing of something which the section itself authorises the Government to direct or prohibit, then nothing further remains to be considered. The' only issue that can then arise will be whether the Notification has been complied with and the court will only have to decide whether the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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