NEW DELHI, Sept 4 - The Delhi High Court has admitted a petition challenging the definition of journalist under the Working Journalist and other Newspaper Employees and Misc Provision Act 1955.
A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice S Rabindra Bhatt and Justice Deepa Sarma, hearing a writ petition, issued a notice to the Union of India on widening the definition of working journalist to include journalist working with the electronic media as well.
The petitioner, a Delhi-based TV journalist working for DY365, Parthajyoti Bora, has said that under the Working Journalist Act, only journalists working with newspaper establishments are considered within the definition of a working journalist. Bora has pleaded for amending the Act to include TV journalists.
Bora�s legal counsel, Raja Chatterjee said the legislation is arbitrary and the Centre needs to take appropriate steps to include journalists working with the electronic media within the ambit of the said Act, so that the benefits including the wages as recommended under the said Act can be availed of by TV scribes.
The Bench has fixed November 17 for the next hearing, Chatterjee said.
