NE LEGAL BUREAU

NEW DELHI, APRIL 16

A group of journalists bodies on Thursday approached the Supreme Court to suspend termination, salary cut and forced leave of scribes and other staff effected by organisations of print and electronic media with impunity, following the lockdown clamped to check COVID-19 pandemic, Deccan Herald reported.

“What media establishments or employers are prohibited from doing by law, they are trying to achieve by subterfuge taking the excuse of the lockdown,” their plea contended.

The writ petition filed jointly by National Alliance of Journalists, Delhi Union of Journalists, and Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists questioned the validity of “unilateral knee-jerk decisions to terminate services, reduce wages and also send employees on forced indefinite unpaid leave”.

They said the arbitrary actions on part of the private media houses placed journalists in a precarious situation. It will also have a pernicious effect on the media sector and will severely hamper the media’s ability to perform its functions in the democratic setup, they added. Their plea pointed out despite the Prime Minister’s appeal, the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s advisories and legal provisions that disallowed retrenchments, terminations or even suspension and closure of publications without due process, the media companies have gone ahead with these measures. This was also “unmindful of the fact that in a lockdown of such an incredible magnitude people can barely move out, leave alone go for job-hunting”, it contended.

The petitioners, which named several newspapers, magazines, online media outlets, and other employers in the media sector for reportedly having taken such steps, have made the Union government, Indian Newspapers Society and News Broadcasters Association as parties to the petition.  “The nature of injury caused to the public is that this is an affront to the rights of journalists and also impedes their ability to perform their duties and provide independent journalism as a  pillar of democracy,” they said.

Their plea said the retrenchment was also in violation of Sections 25N and 25O of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and Section 16A of the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs’ order of March 24, 2020, the journalists and non-journalists employees working in the print, electronic and digital media sector were carrying out essential services and they continued to perform their duties even during the ongoing lockdown.

https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-373231.pdf

Plea in Delhi HC to provide medical, life cover to media persons reporting on coronavirus outbreak

A PIL was moved in the Delhi High Court on March 30 to provide medical insurance cover to media persons who are reporting on coronavirus, which has infected 1,071 people and claimed 29 lives in India.

The plea by advocate Arpit Bhargava was mentioned for urgent hearing before a high court joint registrar who said it would be taken up only after the ongoing lockdown to contain COVID-19 outbreak is relaxed.

The petition has sought directions to the central government to “provide medical and/or life insurance cover to each journalists, reporters and all other media persons, whether contractual/adhoc/permanent, of at least Rs 50 lakhs each”.

He has said media persons have been exempted from the lockdown by the government to disseminate information about COVID-19 accurately and timely to the people and they are working round the clock “without caring for their own safety”.

“Thus, welfare, safety and security of media persons also assume significance in this hour of crisis when cases of COVID-19 are increasing day by day in India,” the petition said.

It further said that while the central government acknowledged the efforts of the health professionals in this time of crisis by coming out with a insurance scheme “whereby any health professional, who while treating COVID-19 patients, met with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh”.

“Surprisingly, media persons were left out from the said benefit for reasons best known to government despite the acknowledgement of efforts of media persons by the Prime Minister of India,” it said.

“It is through the efforts of journalists, reporters and other media persons that there is no panic in India and constant updates on threat of coronavirus are being relayed and presented to public at large,” it further said.

TN CM announces medical coverage for accredited journos

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy  praised journalists for COVID-19 coverage and announced treatment assistance in case they get infected from the virus and Rs 5 lakh compensation if they succumbed to the disease.

“We will provide all medical and financial help to you. Even after this, if any one of you succumbs to this disease, accredited journalist from the government of Tamil Nadu will get a Rs 5 lakh compensation,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that over 50 journalists covering Gandhinagar have been asked to go on self-quaratine for a week on Tuesday. They had attended the press conference of Congress MLA from Ahmedabad who is undergoing treatment for coronavirus at SVP Hospital in Ahmedabad.

The state information department has directed the media houses to grant paid leave to their staffers who were present at the MLA’s press conference.