Justice Challa Kodandaram of Telangana High Court on Wednesday sought to know from the State government the reasons behind not permitting media to cover the demolition of Secretariat buildings.
The judge was hearing a writ petition filed by G. Sampath, Chief of Bureau with V6 Telugu TV news channel, requesting the HC to instruct the government to permit journalists to cover the demolition of Secretariat buildings. He contended that not allowing the media to cover bringing down of Secretariat buildings is illegal and it prevents dissemination of information to people.
During the hearing, the judge asked Advocate General B.S. Prasad as to why representatives of electronic and print media were not given consent to cover the process of pulling down structures in the Old Secretariat. “Members of the media and the press are allowed even in war zones subject to possession of valid identity cards by authorities concerned,” the judge observed.
Information related to news should be passed on to the media in the form of video clips and photographs. This would be readily available with the State Public Information officials. The press represents the citizen and hence it should be given access to the information on time. Otherwise, the news becomes stale, the judge remarked.
The petitioner’s counsel told the court that nearly 400 police personnel were deployed around the Secretariat. Entry was closed to everyone, including the journalists. This action of government scuttled the freedom of press guaranteed by the Constitution, the lawyer said. He argued that a citizen has right to know what is happening at the ground level when the government is pulling down the Secretariat buildings.
The AG sought time to secure instructions on the matter. The judge adjourned the hearing to Thursday.
