HC asks Mamata Govt to give ads to CPI(M) mouthpiece

The order was passed on February 27 by Justice Debangsu Basak but came to the notice of the newspaper on Friday evening.

The vernacular daily had moved the court in 2012 complaining that that it was not getting any government ads since   Mamata Banerjee came to power on .May 20, 2011.

The complainant claimed that it was  being discriminated against and that the  refusal to give ads to it violated free speech and was unconstitutional.

While the writ was pending, the government took a decision on July 12, 2013, that it was unable to give ads to Ganashakti because the newspaper was owned and published by the West Bengal State Committee of CPI(M) and giving it ads would amount to funding a political party by the government.

The state also  argued that placing of ads was a commercial transaction and the state government had the right to decide who to give it to.

On behalf of Ganashakti, advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, contended that the newspaper was accredited by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and recognized by the Centre's Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) and that the right to free speech was a fundamental right.

He said other state governments and even the central government placed ads in Ganashakti and the state government had to follow DAVP rules.

The state government had to follow DAVP rules, Mr Bhattacharyya contended. Other state governments and even the Central government, he pointed out, placed ads in Ganashakti.

Mr Bhattacharyya also argued that the law allows the postal department to deliver newspapers, irrespective of who owns it, at less than normal rates. If a Central law allows a subsidy to an organ of a political party for its postal transmission, that is not construed to be funding a political party.

Therefore, ads to a newspaper should not be seen as funding its owner. By that count, the state should not give ads to any privately owned newspaper either.  He submitted that the July 2013 decision of the government should be squashed.

The last hearing of the case was on December 3, 2014. On February 27, Justice Debangsu Basak set aside the July 2013 decision of the state government and ordered it to grant ads to Ganashakti.