Justice Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), said here on Tuesday that he had received maximum complaints of harassment of journalists from Uttar Pradesh.
He said that he had met chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and had asked him to ensure proper implementation of rules regarding accreditation and also the advertisement policy for journalists and newspapers in the state.
He announced that the PCI would soon institute awards for excellence in journalism for journalists and these would be given away on November 16 which happens to be the National Press Day.
Lashing out at the electronic media, Justice Katju said that he had already written to the Prime Minister to bring TV channels within the purview of the PCI. He said that the TV channels behaved “irresponsibly” when they declared that the Samajwadi government in UP would usher in “goonda raj” even before the government had been sworn in.
He lavished praise on Mr Akhilesh Yadav and said that he found him to be a “young boy with modern views”.
The PCI chairman, while relying to a question, said that it was not within his powers to check the entry of mafia, criminals and blackmailers into the field of journalism. However, he reiterated that if the Lokpal bill was passed, it would make it difficult for any government to function.
“There are about 60 lakh government employees in the country and we will need at least 55,000 Lokpals to deal with complaints against the employees. What is the guarantee that these Lokpals will not turn corrupt? The concept is unworkable,” he said.
Replying to questions about his controversial judgments on Ms Mayawati’s memorials, Justice Katju said that the court could intervene only if there was a specific violation of law.
“The court cannot be subjective on certain issues. The people can decide for themselves and they have decided already by voting out the previous government,” he explained.
Meanwhile, ugly scenes were witnessed at the PCI chairman’s press conference when groups of journalists clashed among themselves on the role of the government in dealing with journalists.