CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday recalled an earlier order of a division bench directing the State government to form a Press Council of Tamil Nadu (PCTN) for curbing fake journalists. The court said the order was beyond the scope of the petition.
The First Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy recalled the order, which was passed by a division bench in 2021, saying the order for the formation of PCTN went beyond the scope of the petition and the subject was not related to the order.
It may be noted that a Division Bench of the Madras High Court, headed by Justice N Kirubakaran (since retired), passed the orders on August 28, 2021, directing Tamil Nadu government to form PCTN. The bench had also ordered that the body should be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court and should have retired IAS and IPS officers as members.
The order had come on a petition filed by reporter S Sekaran seeking a direction to the Director General of Police (DGP) to take action against Pon. Manickavel, then Inspector General (IG) of the Idol Wing-CID, for disseminating fake information on idol theft. Manickavel, however, claimed that Sekaran was a fake journalist.