Tripura: Daily Desher Katha challenges RNI decision to withdraw registration in HC

The newspaper which previously used to declare itself as a mouthpiece owned by the CPI (M) Tripura state committee, changed its ownership as a newspaper published from Daily Desher Katha Society allegedly after March this year.

The petition has been filed in the Tripura High Court. (Source: High Court of Tripura)

Daily Desher Katha, the mouthpiece of the Tripura Communist Party of India (Marxist) has filed a writ petition with the High Court against the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) for withdrawing its registration. Speaking to indianexpress.com, Editor of Daily Desher Katha Samir Paul said that a writ petition was filed with the High Court on Saturday.

“We are not yet aware when the petition will be admitted for hearing in the High Court, but, we have filed a writ petition challenging the decision of the RNI to withdraw our registration”, Paul said.

Calling it ‘illegal’, former editor of the newspaper, and secretary of the Daily Desher Katha Society Goutam Das took to Facebook and said, “A writ petition has been filed in Tripura High Court on behalf of Daily Desher Katha against illegal order of District Magistrate, West Tripura for stopping publication of the newspaper and also against RNI for illegal withdrawal of Registration.”

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Das also alleged that stopping the publication of the newspaper was part of a conspiracy hatched by people who “illegally grabbed” the Agartala Press Club. Reacting to the allegations, Agartala Press Club Secretary Pranab Sarkar said that the charges were baseless. He dared the CPI (M) leader to prove his allegations or resign from all his posts.

The order from RNI to scrap the newspaper’s registration came on October 02 over discrepancies in the declaration of its ownership. West Tripura District Magistrate Sandeep Namdeo Mahatme had said that the newspaper was found to have violated several sections of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.

A source in the Tripura High Court said that the petition filed by Daily Desher Katha alleged that DM (West Tripura) and Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) arbitrarily stopped publication of the newspaper, which is outside their jurisdiction. “The petition challenged their authority. It might be heard soon”, the source said.

In August this year, a complaint was registered against Daily Desher Katha for allegedly violating the Press and Registration of Books Act. A preliminary investigation conducted by the District Magistrate found there was “substance” in the complaint and a hearing was initiated.

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The newspaper which previously used to declare itself as a mouthpiece owned by the CPI (M) Tripura state committee, changed its ownership as a newspaper published from Daily Desher Katha Society allegedly after March this year when a new government led by BJP-IPFT coalition assumed office. Sources in the newspaper, however, claimed that the Daily Desher Katha Society was formed in 2013. But when the issue came up for hearing, the newspaper authorities reportedly failed to provide the necessary evidence.