The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995 7. This takes us to the content of the fundamental right to the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19 [1] (a) and the implications of the restrictions permitted to be imposed on the said right, by Article 19 [2]. We will first deal with the decisions of this Court where the dimensions of the right are delineated. 8. In Romesh Thappar v. The State of Madras [1950 SCR 594] the facts were that the Provincial Government in exercise of its powers under Section 9 [1-A] of Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949, by an order imposed a ban upon the entry and circulation of the petitioner's journal 'Cross Roads'. The said order stated that it was being passed for the purpose of securing the public safety and the maintenance of public order. The petitioner approached this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution claiming that the order contravened the petitioner's fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. He also challenged the validity of Section 9 [1-A] of the impugned Act. The majority of the Court held that the freedom of speech and expression includes freedom of propagation of ideas and that freedom is ensured by the freedom of circulation. In support of this view, the Court referred to two decisions of the U.S. Su- preme Court viz., [1] Exparte Jackson [96 US 727] and [ii] Lovell v. City of Griffin [303 US 444] and quoted with approval the following passage therefrom: "Liberty of circulation is as essential to that freedom as the liberty of publication. Indeed, without circulation the publication would be of little value". Section 9 [1-A] of the impugned Act authorised the Provincial Government, "for the purpose of securing the public safety or the maintenance of public order, to prohibit or regulate the entry into or the circulation, sale or distribution in the Province of Madras or any part thereof or any document or class of documents". The question that the Court had to answer was whether the impugned Act insofar as it contained the aforesaid provision was a law relating to a matter which undermined the security of, or tended to overthrow the State. The Court held that "public order" is an expression of wide connotation and signifies that state of tranquility which prevails among the members of a political society as a result of the internal regulations enforced by the Government which they have established. The Act was passed by the Provincial Leg- islature under Section 100 of the Government of India Act, 1935, read with Entry I of List II of the Seventh Scheduled to that Act. That Entry, among others, comprised "public order" which was different from "public safety" on which subject the Provincial Legislature was not competent to make a law. The Court distinguished between "public order" and "public safety" and held that public safety was a part of the wider concept of public order and if it was intended to signify any matter distinguished from and outside the content of the expression "public order", it would not have been competent for the Madras Legislature to enact the provision so far as it related to public safety. "Public safety" ordinarily means security of the public or their freedom from danger. In that sense, anything which tends to prevent danger to public health may also be regarded as se- curing public safety. The meaning of the expression must, however, vary according to the context. The Court then rejected the argument that the securing of the public safety or maintenance of public order would include the security of the State which was covered by Article 19 [2] and held that where a law purports to authorise the imposition of restrictions on a fundamental right in language wide enough to cover restrictions both within and without the limits of constitutionally permissible legislative actions affecting such right, it is not possible to uphold it even insofar as it may be applied within the constitutional limits as it is not severable. So long as the possibility of its being applied for purposes not sanctioned by the Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/ 4