Lake City Times vs Ut Of J&K And Others

Sanjay Dhar, J

1) The petitioner has sought a direction upon the respondents to decide his application, whereby the petitioner has made a request for empanelment of his newspaper in terms of the advertisement policy in vogue.

2) According to the petitioner, the newspaper under the name “Lake City Times”, was registered in terms of certificate of registration dated 3rd May, 2013 as a weekly newspaper. As per the advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India on 21.02.2014, 674 publications were approved for empanelment and the name of the petitioner figures at S.No.169 of the said panel. Again in the panel issued in terms of Government Order dated 06.06.2017, the name of the petitioner finds mention at S.No.72.

3) On 08.06.2021, sanction was accorded to the registration of petitioner as a daily newspaper. Thereafter, another media policy dated 15.05.2020 was issued by the Government and the petitioner applied for fresh empanelment. It is the grievance of the petitioner that despite approaching the respondent/department a number of times for empanelment, no action is being taken on his application.

4) Having regard to the limited nature of the prayer sought in the petition, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner would feel satisfied if a direction is issued to the respondents to consider the application of the petitioner for empanelment and take a decision thereon within a time bound manner.

5) Accordingly, the petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to consider the representation of the petitioner made for empanelment in accordance with the policy in vogue. The consideration shall be accorded by the respondents expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months from the date a copy of this order is furnished by the petitioner to the respondents.