Justice Ranjana Prakash
Desai will be the President of
the Press Council of India
Former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai has been elected to the post of President of the Press Council of India (PCI). A committee comprising Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Press Council of India member Prakash Dubeybapproved her appointment as PCI President.
Earlier, Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad (Retd.) was the PCI President. The post was vacant after completing his term and demitting office in November last year.
Justice Ranjana Desai
Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was born on 30 October 1949. She passed the Bachelor of Arts from Elphinstone College, Mumbai inn1970 and Bachelor of Law from Government Law College, Mumbai in 1973. She has been a former judge of the Supreme Court.
She was appointed to this post on 13 September 2011. Apart from this, 72-year-old Justice Desai is a former judge of the Bombay High Court. Justice Ranjana Desai recently headed the Delimitation
Commission on Jammu and Kashmir which was established to recreate the assembly constituencies of the Union Territory.
Press Council of India (PCI)
The Press Council of India (PCI) was established on 16 November 1966 to maintain and improve the freedom of the press in India and the standards of Indian newspapers and news agencies.The first Press Commission, constituted in the year 1954, had talked about the constitution of a committee in the year 1956 to protect the ethics of journalism and freedom of the press in India.
About 10 years after this, the Press Council of India (PCI) was formed.It adjudicates complaints of violation of morality and violation of the freedom of the press. The Press Council of India (PCI) is a statutory body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. In addition, this council consists of 28 other members, of whom 20 represent the press, five members are nominated from both houses of parliament and three members represent the cultural, literary and legal fields.
Its objective is to maintain the freedom of the press and to maintain and improve the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India.