Writ petition by Mathrubhumi challenging reduction of advertisement rates dismissed as extemporaneous since Government Order substantially allayed grievances pending hearing. Liberty reserved.
Writ petition closed, liberty reserved to raise grievance before respondent Secretary.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE V.G.ARUN
FRIDAY, THE 03RD DAY OF JULY 2020 / 12TH ASHADHA, 1942
WP(C).No.10739 OF 2019(N)
PETITIONER/S:
THE MATHRUBHUMI PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO.LTD K.P.KESAVA MENON ROAD, KOZHIKODE-673001, REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR, SRI.M.P.VEERENDRA KUMAR
BY ADVS. U.K.RAMAKRISHNAN SRI.V.KRISHNA MENON SMT.J.SURYA SRI.PRINSUN PHILIP
RESPONDENT/S:
1 THE STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695001.
2 COMMITTEE FOR CONDUCTING SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF ADVERTISEMENT RATES FOR PRINT, VISUAL AND ONLINE MEDIA REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN, N.VENKATARAMAN, AGE AND FATHER'S NAME NOT KNOWN TO THE PETITIONER, SENIOR DIRECTOR, FINANCE AND TECHNICAL, KAIRALI.T.V., KAIRALI TOWERS, ASAN SQUARE, UNIVERSITY.P.O. PALAYAM, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695034.
3 THE DIRECTOR, INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695034.
GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.S.KANNAN
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 03.07.2020, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
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JUDGMENT
Dated this the 3rd day of July 2020
The writ petition is filed aggrieved by Ext.P14
order, by which the advertisement rates of the petitioner was reduced by the Government. Pending the writ petition, the Government issued Ext.P15 Government Order, which substantially allays the grievances of the petitioner.
In such circumstance, the writ petition is closed, reserving the liberty of the petitioner to raise its grievance, if any subsisting, before the 1st respondent.
Sd/V.G.ARUN JUDGE
SB/03/07/2020
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APPENDIX
PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:
EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(P)NO.8/99 PR DATED 07.07.1999 EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(P)NO.9/2012/I AND P.R DATED 19.06.2012 EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(MS)NO.11/12/I AND P.R.D. DATED 08.08.2012 EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(P)NO.1/13/I ADN PRD DATED 22.01.2013 EXHIBIT P5 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(RT)NO.253/13/I AND PRD DATED 11.06.2013 EXHIBIT P6 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(MS)NO.4/14/I AND PR DATED 4.3.2014 EXHIBIT P7 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(RT)NO.288/14/I AND PRD DATED 10.09.2014 EXHIBIT P8 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(RT)NO.551/15/I AND PRD DATED 20.11.2015 EXHIBIT P9 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(P)NO.17/15/I AND PRD DATED 8.12.2015 EXHIBIT P10 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(ORDINARY)NO.287/2017/I AND PR DATED 23.09.2017 EXHIBIT P11 TRUE COPY OF THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT COMMITTEE DATED 16.03.2018 RELATING TO THE NEWSPAPER SEGMENT EXHIBIT P12 TRUE COPY OF THE ADVERTISING RATE CONTRACT EXECUTED BETWEEN THE 1ST PETITIONER AND DVAP, MINISTRY OF 1 AND B, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA FOR THE PERIOD 1.1.2019 TO 31.12.2021
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EXHIBIT P13 TRUE COPY OF THE FIRST PAGE OF THE ADDENDUM DATED 04.07.2018
EXHIBIT P14 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO(P)NO.1/2019/I AND PR DATED 7.1.2019 EXHIBIT P15 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER GO. (ORDINARY)NO 36/2020/I&PR DATED 11.3.2020
RESPONDENTS EXTS:
EXHIBIT R1(A) A TRUE COPY OF G.O. DATED 29.05.2019
// true copy //
P.A to Judge
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The Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co.Ltd
The State of Kerala
Committee for Conducting Scientific Study of Advertisement Rates for Print, Visual and Online Media
The Director, Information and Public Relations Department
V.G. Arun
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
