The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of a report published in The Hindu regarding a notification of the State government prohibiting door-to-door delivery of newspapers and magazines.
A single Bench of Justice Prasanna Varale on Tuesday converted an article published in a Marathi daily and the one in The Hindu, “Maharashtra allows printing but bans distribution of newspapers” on April 19, into a suo motu public interest litigation.
The news items refer to the notification signed by the Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, which was issued on April 18. “Print media is hereby exempted from the lockdown from April 20. However, given the extent of the spread of COVID-19, door-to-door delivery of newspapers and magazines is prohibited,” it said.
The HC said, “The news item published in The Hindu then refers to the statement of the Chief Minister: ‘While we support its operation and the need to reach out to the people, we want to also ensure the highest safety from a virus that the world is still grappling with. The sale of print media newspapers, magazines and production is allowed at stalls/shops already established, as deemed fit by the media houses. We urge the media to refrain from home deliveries.’”
The Bench said, “One fails to understand when the State government is permitting the purchase of newspapers at the stalls and the shops established, then why the door-to-door delivery of the newspapers is prohibited. If the State permitting the general public to approach the stalls and shops to purchase the newspapers means there would be one reason or excuse for people to move out of houses in the lockdown period, it would certainly cause some movements on the streets.”
The HC order also said, “It is a common knowledge that though majority of the newspapers are available by way of e-papers, it is not possible for majority of people to have an access to e-papers as they may not be conversant with the technology or are used to reading hard copy of a newspaper.”
