PIL in Supreme Court against job cuts in some media organisations

INTRODUCTION

On June 1, Monday, the SC issued a notice to the Central government and others on public interest litigation (PIL) against the lay-offs and salary cuts in the media industry due to the ongoing lockdown as a result of the pandemic outbreak. The Bench consisted of 3 judges, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice BR Gavai, and headed by Justice NV Ramana. The advocate who appeared for the petitioners was Advocate Colin Gonsalves. The Bench issued notices to the Union of India (UoI), the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), and also the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), and slated the matter for after two weeks.

The PIL had been jointly filed by the National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), as well as the Brihan Mumbai Union of Journalists (BMUJ). They pleaded the court for its immediate intervention in this matter and asked to protect the media employees during this intense situation of crisis when they were being asked to leave or their salaries being reduced. The Bench initially did not intervene and asked the government to respond to it. But when Solicitor-General Tushar Mehra handed over a copy of the petition, Justice Ramana said that the matter which requires a hearing.

CONCLUSION

The petition talked about the ignorance of the Prime Minister's appeal and advise of the Labour Ministry, to not deprive employees of their livelihoods in such times. It further states that the newspaper managements are threatening employees to end their service or take a transfer to remote places. The petitioners have also referred to specific instances of layoffs and salary cuts of employees working for the respondent media groups and contended that this inhuman and illegal practice of the employers or the newspaper owners is a violation of the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.

In the petition, the DUJ asked the Central government, INS and NBA to ensure that media employers as well as the organisations do not take undue advantage of the lockdown and take such kind of arbitrary action against their employees during this crisis period.