New Delhi: The High Court at New Delhi  has sought response from the Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA) on a plea to declare as void its enquiry conducted against Zee journalist Sudhir Chaudhary on his alleged attempt to extort Rs.100 crore from Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal.
Justice M.L. Mehta sought a response from the BEA and its three members – senior journalists N.K. Singh, Dibang and Rahul Kanwal – to file response within a week and posted the matter for Feb 26.
All the three senior journalists were on the three-member fact-finding committee constituted by the BEA to look into the issues of professional ethics arising out of the allegations levelled by Jindal Steel and Power Limited against Chaudhary, who was then treasurer of the editors’ association.
The BEA had removed Chaudhary from its membership after the report of the panel was filed.
Chaudhary had moved the court challenging the enquiry, the findings and the subsequent action. In his plea, he also sought the removal of a press release issued by the BEA from public domain.
The high court on Nov 20, 2012, had issued notices to the BEA and others on the plea of Chaudhary.
Zee Business journalists Samir Ahluwalia and Chaudhary were later arrested on Nov 27, 2012, on a complaint by Jindal’s firm that they had demanded Rs.100 crore as an advertising deal for not airing negative news against the firm in connection with the coal block allocation scandal.
Both the journalists were granted bail by the trial court later.