MITRA PRAKASHAN LTD Vs. POST MASTER GENERAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner Mitra Prakashan Ltd., is a private limited company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act with its registered office at Muthiganj, Allahabad city. The petitioner company has been publishing a Hindi periodical known as 'Manorama' since 1926. It is a monthly magazine and successive numbers of it are published at intervals of not more than 31 days. The monthly circulation of the publication 'Manorama' is 22,000 copies. It has a bona fide list of subscribers above 50. This magazine has been registered since 1926 as a newspaper for transmission by inland post. Its registration number was A-278. Registered newspapers can be sent for a payment of one pice of postage in case the weight does not exceed 10 tolas. Similarly other concessional rates for registered newspapers are provided for in the first Schedule to the Indian Post Offices Act and the Rules made, thereunder. In case the newspaper is not allowed to be registered and sent as an unregistered magazine the postal charges will be about eight times higher. According to the petitioner, the postal authorities for the past 29 years have been treating the contents of 'Manorama' as fulfilling the requirements of Section 9 of the Act and the Rules framed thereunder and it continued to be registered as such with the postal authorities. Till the year 1955 it was continued to be registered from year to year. This company is publishing three other publications 'Maya', 'Manohar Kahaniyan' and 'Man Mohan', which were all registered as newspapers under the provisions of Act VI of 1898. Writ petition No.98 deals with the periodical known as 'Man Mohan'. Writ petition No. 99 deals with the periodical known as 'Manohar Kahaniyan' and Writ petition No. 100 deals with the periodical known as 'Maya', which I have already indicated are other publications published by the present petitioner.

(2.) In February 1955 the Post-Master-General, Uttar pradesh, cancelled the registration of 'Maya' and 'Manohar Kahaniyan' and threatened to cancel the registration of 'Man Mohan'. The present petitioner filed a writ petition challenging the action taken in respect of 'Maya', 'Man Mohan' and 'Manohar Kahaniyan.' By my order dated the 21-10-1955 those petitions were allowed and thereafter the periodicals continued to be treated as registered newspapers till the end of 1955. On the 5-11-1955 an application for renewal of the registration was made to the Post-master-General for the year 1956 in compliance with the new rules for renewal of registration. On the 16-12-1955 the postal authorities were reminded of the application for renewal. As the registration was refused the petitioner filed another petition before this Court against the refusal of the Postmaster-General to renew the registration number of the magazine on the 16-1-1956. The writ petition remained pending in this Court and on the 21-12-1956 an application was made by the opposite parties that as the renewal was claimed for the year 1956 the writ petition had become infructuous as the period for which the renewal could have been granted had already expired. No final orders could be passed on that application and in November 1956 the present petitioner again applied for renewal of registration. No orders were passed on that application. In the meantime the petition which had been filed in January 1956 was disposed of on the ground that it had become infructuous and the present petition was filed in respect of the application filed in November 1956 for renewal of registration of 1957 on the 7-1-1957. By means of this petition it is prayed that a writ of mandamus be issued directing the opposite-party No. 1 to renew the registration number of the petitioner for 'Manorama' within the meaning of Section 9. of the Post Offices Act. The petitioner during all this period was granted interim order directing the opposite parties to treat the petitioner's magazine as a registered magazine.

(3.) Notices were issued to the opposite parties and a counter-affidavit has been filed in this case on their behalf.