Pankaj Srivastava v. Tv18 Broadcast Limited & ANR.

$~26 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 2897/2015 & CM Appl. 5198/2015 PANKAJ SRIVASTAVA ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar, Adv.

versus TV18 BROADCAST LIMITED & ANR.

..... Respondents Through: Mr. Rajesh Kumar with Mr. Sumit Rajput, Advs. for R-2

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHAN

O R D E R

% 02.02.2016 The present writ petition has been filed with the following prayers:- "a.For a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction to the respondent to adhere to the constitutional principle stated in Article 14 of the Constitution of India and maintain at all times fairness, non arbitrariness and non discrimination in the reportage of news and in the doing of programmes particularly in respect of political parties and social issues and to avoid at all times being partisan and one sided;

b.For an order for the proper implementation of recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the issues relating to Media Ownership. c.For an order declaring the order of termination of services of the petitioner dated 21.1.15 as issued by the respondent as illegal and malafide and to set aside the said termination of services and direct the respondent to

reinstate the petitioner with full back wages and continuity of services and all benefits;

d.For an order directing the respondent to produce the computer on which the petitioner was working before termination as stated in para 25 and to give the petitioner immediate access to the computer to retrieved the content relating to the petitioner i.e.

i. copy of Email exchange to the superiors ii. Increment Letter given to the petitioner in June iii. Research work and coverage of various stories iv. Personnel family photographs & etc. saved in the system.

e.For an interim order staying the termination of the service of the petitioner dated 21-1-2015.

f.For an interim order appointing a retired judge of this Hon'ble to conduct an enquiry as to the circumstances which caused employees mentioned in the petition to leave the channels of the respondent company namely CNN-IBN, IBN7, IBN Lokmat and others to determine whether the allegations contained in this petition are correct and also whether persons of impeccable credentials but having a liberal, social and political viewpoint were purged and if so whether freedom of speech and expression was critically affected after the takeover of the respondent company by Mukesh Ambani/ Reliance Industries; and to make a report to this Court within 8 weeks;

g.Pass an order or direction which this Hon'ble court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case."

The primary relief prayed for by the petitioner is for setting aside the order terminating his services by a private news channel and for seeking his reinstatement with full back wages. In the opinion of this Court, such a prayer in a writ proceeding is not maintainable.

As far as the prayer with regard to implementation of recommendations made by the TRAI is concerned, learned counsel for the respondent states that till date the said recommendation of TRAI has not been accepted and in fact, an inter-ministerial group has been set up to examine the TRAI recommendations. This Court is further of the opinion that if the petitioner is of the view that his services have been wrongly terminated and that he needs to be compensated, he should file proper proceedings in accordance with law. With the aforesaid liberty, the present writ petition is disposed of.

However, it is clarified that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the controversy. Rights and contentions of all parties are left open.

MANMOHAN, J FEBRUARY 02, 2016 NG