EDITORS GUILD OF INDIA vs PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIA & ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Judgment reserved on: 10.11.2025 % Judgment delivered on: 16.01.2026 + W.P.(C) 16740/2024, CM APPL. 70857/2024 & CM APPL. 65259/2025 EDITORS GUILD OF INDIA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Archit Krishna and Ms.Meherunnisa Anand Jaitley, Advs. versus PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, ASG with Mr. T. Singhdev, Mr. Bhanu Gulati, Ms. Yamini Singh, Mr. Abhijit Chakravarty, Ms. Anum Hussain, Ms. R. Kaur, Ms. Akansha, Mr. S. Kumar, Mr. T. Srivastava, Mr. P. Rawat, Mr. Vedant Sood, Advs. for PCI CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TUSHAR RAO GEDELA JUDGMENT DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, C.J. CHALLENGE 1. This petition invoking our jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed challenging the notification dated W.P.(C) 16740/2024 Page 1 of 31 Signature Not Verified Digiltally Signed By:SREERAM L Signing Date:16.01.2026 17:08:10 28.10.2024 whereby, “associations of persons” have been notified by the Press Council of India (hereinafter referred to as the „Council‟) under Section 5(4) of the Press Council Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the „Act, 1978‟) read with Press Council (Procedure for Notification of Associations of Persons) Rules, 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the „Rules, 2021‟), for the purposes of constitution of 15th term of the Council. In fact, challenge is to non-inclusion of the petitioner in the said notification. 2. The petitioner has also challenged the report of the Scrutiny Committee dated 10.09.2024 whereby, its claim for nomination as an “association of persons” for the category referred to in Section 5(3)(a) of the Act, 1978 has been rejected. 3. The petitioner also seeks a direction to be