New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL challenging the nominations of Shobhana Bhartia, Vice-Chairperson of HT Media Ltd and Chandan Mitra, Editor of The Pioneer as members of Rajya Sabha.
The petitioner, Centre For Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had challenged their nomination to the Upper House on the ground that they did not fall under either of the four categories - literature, science, art and social service – as mentioned in Article 80 (3) of the Constitution under which the President makes the nomination.
A Bench headed by Justice Ruma Pal dismissed the petition observing that the expression ‘social service’ is wide enough to cover such cases.
Petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan submitted that nomination of journalists to Rajya Sabha was being used to curb the independence of the media.
He argued that journalists and lawyers as a separate category of people for nomination to Rajya Sabha. The proposal was rejected after a debate and therefore their nomination to the Upper House was unconstitutional.
"If the argument is accepted then no journalist can be nominated to the Rajya Sabha," the Court said. "Journalists cannot be bought by nominations to Rajya Sabha," it added.
The petitioner had also requested the court to issue appropriate guidelines regarding the procedure of selection of persons to be nominated as members of the Rajya Sabha by the President under Article 80 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
The petitioner had also sought directions that nominations to the Upper House can only be made from the persons falling in categories/ disciplines mentioned in Article 80 (3) of the Constitution and not otherwise.
It had further demanded prohibition on the nomination of persons who are otherwise eligible but known political supporters and members of political parties.
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