HC extends stay on warrant, proceedings before PCI against I&B

The Delhi High Court today extended the stay granted on the bailable arrest warrant issued by the Press Council of India (PCI) against Sunil Arora, the then Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry Secretary, for failing to comply with the summons to appear before it.
Arora has retired from service on April 30.
Justice Manmohan extended its April 19 interim order while asking the Ministry and the PCI to resolve the issue among themselves, saying "it's not a big deal".
The court had restrained the PCI from proceeding further against Arora in pursuance to its March 17 order to institute a suo motu inquiry into the "continued apathy" of the Ministry towards the activities of the Council.

During a brief hearing, the counsel for the PCI told the court that several issues had to be discussed, so the Council issued notice to the then Secretary.
The counsel said there were matters concerning the powers of the Council, the autonomy and the sitting fee to the non-official members which required redressal.

The advocate said that to reduce the Council's dependency on the government it had proposed increasing the levy fee on newspapers. The levy fee is paid by newspapers depending on their size and circulation to avail themselves of the services of the Council, she added.
The PCI said that all this was done for amicable dialogue with the government.

To this, central government standing counsel Ripu Daman Bhardwaj, claimed that all this issues were raised for personal benefit of the council members.
He said that the issue of levy has been resolved, and the remaining matters will also be looked into.
To this, the court asked the counsel for both the parties to settle the issue and listed the matter for further hearing on October 6.
The Ministry has sought quashing of the suo motu enquiry
conducted by the PCI by its March 17 resolution, summons and bailable warrants emanating from the enquiry.
The government in its plea has said the PCI's order is not sustainable in the eyes of law in as much as the same is completely against the principles of natural justice since the reply made on behalf of Arora have not been considered at all by the PCI.

"There are no provision under the PCI Act and regulation, which empowers the Council to summon the Secretary or any other officer of the central government on its administrative, financial and legislative proposals for which the government is empowered to take decision, whenever necessary with the approval of the Parliament, as the bare perusal of the Act and Regulation make it manifestly clear," the plea said.
It has further said that the impugned inquiry proceedings culminating in passing of the orders are in "total disregard to the statutory provisions and it is a colourable exercise of power."
The ministry in its petition said that the order was not warranted particularly when the government has taken action on their proposal with regard to enhancement of fees and the same has been notified in Gazette notification of March 30, 2016.

As per the PCI's decision on April 11 after Arora failed to appear on that day, the Warrant of Arrest was to be issued through Commissioner of Police, Delhi/ACMM, Patiala House Court, Delhi for securing his appearance before the Council on April 22. The warrant was kept in abeyance by the Council after it received a communication from the I and B Ministry that the Secretary would appear any day after April 18.
The unanimous decision to secure Arora's attendance before the Council at its next meeting was taken by its members at their meeting on April 11 under Chairmanship of C K Prasad.

The PCI on March 17 had decided to institute a suo motu inquiry into the "continued apathy" of the I and B Ministry towards the activities of the Council particularly at its efforts to preserve the freedom of the press and its mandate under the Press Council Act and directed its Secretary to appear before it on April 11.