TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Press Council, a statutory quasi-judicial autonomous authority, headed by Justice M Katju and whose mandate is to preserve the freedom of the press and maintain and improve newspapers standards, met in Goa Monday.
The full Council held 14 sittings (including two special meetings) during the XI term to discuss matters having vital bearing on press freedom and its standards. The workload of the Council has increased tremendously due to setting up of a numerous committees on a wide range of activities to maintain the freedom of press.
The two Inquiry Committees, which are Standing Committees, presided over by the Chairman of the Council held 30 sittings received a total number of 4,397 complaints and decided a total of 3,445 cases during XI term of which 536 (Sec 13-110 and Sec 14- 426) were adjudicated and the remaining 2,915 (Sec 13-581 and Sec 14-2334) were closed since oral inquiry not being warranted.
The Council took suo motu cognizance of the incidents of violation against media persons and threats to press freedom in various cases all over India.
The PCI also took suo motu cognizance with regard to the killing of journalist in Raipur.
The Council has developed several guiding principles towards creating the code of conduct for the media and also for the benefit of the authorities dealing with the press.
During the XI term of the Council several important matters were deliberated and the Council came out with studies and reports on important matters. The Council interacted with press, media Councils and similar bodies in different parts of the world for active encouragement to preservation of the press freedom and promotion of its standards and ethics worldwide.
