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Writer's pictureLEGAL WIND
Jan 13, 20225 min read

Case Analysis on: Election Commission Of India Vs. M.R. Vijayabhaskar

Authored By: Kartikeya Nain


Date of Judgement- 06th May, 2021

Court- Supreme Court Of India

Bench- Justice D.Y Chandrachud, Justice M.R Shah

Citation- SLP (C) No. 6731 of 2021


INTRODUCTION

The Supreme Court of India in The Election Commission of India V. M.R.Vijayabhaskar saw that oral comments are not a piece of the authority legal record, and accordingly, the topic of canceling them doesn't emerge. It is prosaic to say that a proper assessment of a legal foundation is reflected through its decisions and orders, and not its oral perceptions during the consultation. Henceforth, taking into account the above conversation, we track down no substance in the petition of the EC for controlling the media from providing details regarding court procedures.[i]


FACTS

1. A writ petition was filed by a member of Karur Legislative Assembly, Tamil Nadu Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar in the Madras High Court to guarantee that Covid-19 conventions are continued in the polling stalls in Karur Legislative Assembly Constituency of Tamil Nadu and that was acknowledged by the Madras High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution.[ii]

2. The writ petition was heard by 2 Judge bench of the Madras High Court including Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy and the order was passed on 26th April 2021.

3. During the time of hearing, thre bench of Judges made certain remarks targeting and alleging the election commission for the increasing number of Covid cases due to their inability to execute proper COVID-19 security measures and convention during the elections.

4. Despite the fact that the order was passed by the Madras High Court what chafed the political decision commission, The comments which were made by the appointed authorities and were brought up in the appeal are– “The solely responsible institution for 2nd wave of covid is the Election Commission” and “Election Commission should be charged for murder.”[iii]

5. However the above comments were made orally and this was not recorded in the request for the high court yet the media revealed the comments which stood out as truly newsworthy on paper, electronic and web-based media. This made the political decision commission record a unique leave request under the watchful eye of the Supreme Court of India that their various application was not evaluated dependent on merits and furthermore with respect to the oral perception and comments of the Madras High Court.


ISSUE RAISED

Whether the media should report the oral comments made during a judicial hearing?


ARGUMENTS

Contentions by Petitioner

The counsel addressing the Election Commission argued that the comments and perceptions made by the high court judges are made without verification or material on record. These sorts of comments made by them have corrupted the picture of the political decision commission as it was generally revealed by the media. These comments can lessen the confidence of individuals in the political decision commission and further would bring up its protected power.


Contentions by Respondent

Addressing the respondent, the supporter restricting the entries fought by calling attention to the way that the Election Commission partakes in a wide scope of abilities during the time of races in a State like supplanting or suspending regional justices, cops, Director-General of Police and in any event, sending paramilitary powers to guarantee that the principles, rules or mandates are observed. Likewise, the political decision commission was answerable for the execution of security measures and Coronavirus conventions during races.


JUDGEMENT

The Supreme Court saw that oral comments made during any legal actions are never recorded as a component of the judgement. The court concurred that the comments made by the Madras High Court judges were cruel. It was said in the court that while making such 'seriouscomment" proclamations the appointed judges ought to control themselves in open courts. It was underlined that the language utilized by the appointed authorities while mentioning objective facts orally or in decisions ought to have legal respectability.


The Supreme Court dismissed the prayer of the election commission to confine the media from revealing any oral comments made by the adjudicators as it strikes the major standards ensured under the Indian Constitution. Moreover, the adjudicators clarified that the idea of open court necessitates that the data with respect to the legal procedures in a court should be open to people in general and subsequently it ought to be made accessible in the public space.


The court additionally took the case of print media detailing the preliminaries or court procedures during the British Raj like the rebellion preliminary of Lokmanya Tilak.[iv] The Supreme Court makes a decision about prompted that it would be better assuming the Constitutional Authorities acknowledge the new situation rather than whining. The court additionally adulated the High Courts for its estimable work during the Coronavirus emergency.


ANALYSIS

As properly said by the Supreme Court, an open court guarantees that the appointed authorities act in consonance with the law. The summit court incorporated the media announcing of official procedures under the essential right of the right to speak freely of discourse and articulation expressing that it is important for opportunity of the press.

To preserve the democratic rule lifestyle it is fundamental that individuals ought to have the opportunity to communicate their sentiments and to spread the word about their perspectives for individuals at large.


Freedom of the press isn't explicitly referenced in article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution and what is referenced there is just freedom of speech and articulation. In the Constituent Assembly Debates, it was clarified by Dr. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that no extraordinary notice of the freedom of the press was essential by any means as the press and an individual or a resident were equivalent to far as their right of articulation was concerned.


The political decision commission has a history of being an autonomous body thus it ought to keep up with being so. The main issue associated with the case was in regards to the power of an adjudicator to direct legal actions and to participate in an exchange over the span of a meeting and the opportunity of the media to report decisions yet in addition legal procedures or comments made during these procedures.


CONCLUSION

This judgement plays a very vital part in keeping the opportunity of media unblemished in detailing the court continuing. Right of media to Report Court Proceeding: Sine qua non for a sound Democracy. The media would have the right to report what all happens during a court continuing. However, the assessment of the court is constantly communicated through legal orders. The revealing of media is simply considered as detailing of court going before.


The Supreme Court of India further stressed the requirement for judges to practice alert in the spur of the moment comments in open court, which might be helpless to error. This perception made in the said judgement likewise featured the need of judges to practice limits while mentioning any oral objective fact. Any way this judgement emphasizes the need for press opportunity for a sound and healthy democracy.


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