New SC edict to the media?

No names of judges, lawyers in TN

An appeal summarily dismissed by the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and P C Pant on Friday poses a big dilemma for the media on whether to publish/broadcast names of the judges and the lawyers or not.

The dismissal of the appeal against a Madras High Court’s August 22 verdict amounts to the Supreme Court making the judgment of the Bench of Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao and S S Sundar that puts the bar on the media the law of the land.

The lawyers, however, contend that the Apex Court may not have gone through the part of the High Court judgment that refers to the media reporting and rather limited itself to the refusal of any relief to the lawyer against whom the High Court had ordered action by the Bar Council. The Supreme Court has not discussed the media reporting part to conclude otherwise, they said. The High Court judgment was basically to pull up Madurai lawyer S Baskar Mathuram on a PIL filed by him on sexual offence cases slapped on 12 Dalit children aged between 7 and 12 years under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, seeking quashing of the FIR and compensation to the children.

Taking offence to what the court described as using the High Court for popularity and publicity to attract clients, the Bench accused the lawyer of "unethical practice of soliciting work" and ordered placement of his case before the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu for appropriate action, within six months, for the breach of code of ethics and professional conduct.

It was, however, the later part of the judgment on the media that has put in a dilemma, more so after the Supreme Court refused to help the lawyer facing the Bar Council’s action and in a way endorse the High Court’s orders to the Media.

In a bizarre order, the High Court went on to elucidate on the negative aspects of publishing the names of legal practitioners in the media, asking it not to publish names of the lawyers since it "can lead to an indirect method of soliciting or indulging in advertisement of the professional abilities or skills of the advocates."

It went on to direct the Registrar (Administration) "to immediately circulate instructions to all print, electronic and media houses not to publish the names of the practitioners (lawyers) as part of news item."

The High Court further directed to request them "not to publish the individual names of judges unless it is so essentially required, the reason being every judge of the High Court is carrying on with his work sitting in a particular division/roster as assigned by the Hon’ble Chief Justices.

"The Judges do perform their duties dispassionately and to the extent possible by not allowing their individual notions and philosophies to be a guiding factor in deciding the causes brought before them. Therefore, we feel that the names of the Judges should not be published and on the other hand, the name of the High Court alone should be published."