Supreme Court of India Hindustan Times & Ors vs State Of U.P. & Anr on 1 November, 2002 Equivalent citations: AIR 2003 SUPREME COURT 250, 2003 (1) SCC 591, 2002 AIR SCW 4706, 2002 ALL. L. J. 2829, 2003 (1) UJ (SC) 49, 2002 (10) SRJ 510, (2002) 5 ALL WC 3543, 2002 (6) SLT 279, (2003) 2 ALLINDCAS 241 (SC), (2002) 9 JT 317 (SC), 2003 UJ(SC) 1 49, 2002 (4) LRI 715, (2002) 101 FJR 955, (2003) 2 INDLD 515, (2003) 1 LABLJ 206, (2003) 95 CUT LT 755, (2002) 258 ITR 469, (2003) 1 UC 130, (2002) 4 LAB LN 1165, (2003) 1 ANDH LT 18, (2002) 8 SCALE 301, (2003) 1 ESC 24, (2002) 8 SUPREME 206, (2003) 96 FACLR 758, (2003) 1 UPLBEC 355, (2003) 2 CALLT 1 CASE NO.: Writ Petition (civil) 328 of 1992 PETITIONER: Hindustan Times & Ors. RESPONDENT: State of U.P. & Anr. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 01/11/2002 V.N. Khare & S.B. Sinha. JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T S.B. SINHA, J. : By reason of this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, the writ petitioners herein have questioned the validity of an order dated 24th September, 1991 as also one dated 16th October, 1991 issued by the Special Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, whereby and whereunder a direction had been issued to the effect that at the time of payment of bills for publication of Government advertisements in all newspapers having a circulation of more than 25,000 copies, 5% of the amount thereof, forming part of a fund for the purpose of granting pension to the working journalists, would be deducted. Petitioner No.1 herein is a company incorporated under the Companies Act and is engaged in the business of publishing newspapers including 'The Hindustan Times'. Petitioner No.2 is a shareholder of Petitioner No.1 and Petitioner No.3 is its Director. The petitioners have questioned the legality/validity of the said orders, inter alia, on the following grounds : 1. The impost, is not leviable either as a tax or as a fee having regard to the fact that the legislative field in relation to the payment of retiral benefits to the working journalists is covered by a Parliamentary Act known as the Working Journalists and other Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 ('the said Act'). 2. As the State of Uttar Pradesh had no legislative competence, it could not have issued the impugned orders in exercise of its power under Article 162 of the Constitution of India or otherwise. 3. Assuming, that welfare of the working journalists is a field falling within Entry 24 of List III of the VIIth Schedule of the Constitution of India, any State legislation would be the subject to the Central legislation and in that view of the matter too, the impugned orders are ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution. The contention of the respondents, on the other hand, is that the scheme in question was made upon obtaining suggestions from the managements of the leading newspapers in terms whereof a beneficent measure for grant of pension to the working journalists was taken and in the event the petitioners are not agreeable thereto, they are free not to accept the offer of the respondents. In any event, as issuance of advertisements is a matter of contract by and between the State and the publishers of the newspapers, the petitioners cannot claim any legal right in relation thereto. The matter relating to grant of pension to the accredited journalists is said to have been under consideration of the RespondentState for a number of years. A Bill to the said effect was presented in the Vidhan Sabha and referred to the Select Committee. However, following dissolution of the Vidhan Sabha, the said Bill lapsed. With a view to give effect to the scheme, despite lapse of the said Bill, by reason of the impugned executive instructions issued under Article 162 of the Constitution of India, the Respondent No.1 upon inviting suggestions from several newspaper publishers, made a scheme, known as the 'Pension and Social Security Scheme for Fulltime Journalists' the etc.; the relevant portions whereof are as under : " (1) This Scheme will be for full time working Journalists Group Scheme. In this no individual Policy will be issued. Life Insurance Corporation will issue one policy in favour of Director of Information. (2) The Scheme will be voluntary. This will be sharing Scheme in which 50% of the amount will be taken from member journalists and the remaining 50% will be deposited by the State Government. The amount of contribution on the basis of average will be divided into the following three categories 2. The following Journalists will be entitled to adopt the said scheme: (1) These working Journalists who are regularly working for at least 5 years in news papers agencies in Uttar Pradesh. The circulation of such newspapers should be atleast 10000. (2) Those workers who are covered by the definition of J