The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995 necessarily undermine their power to influence public opinion it cannot but be regarded as a dangerous weapon which is capable of being used against democracy itself. x x x x x x The legitimacy of the result intended to be achieved does not necessarily imply that every means to achieve it is permissible; for even if the end is desirable and permissible, the means employed must not transgress the limits laid down by the Constitution, if they directly impinge on any of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution it is no answer when the constitutionality of the measure is challenged that apart from the fundamental right infringed the provision is otherwise legal. Finally it was said that one of its objects is to give some kind of protection to small or newly started newspapers and, therefore, the Act is good. Such an object may be desirable but for attaining it the State cannot make inroads on the right of other newspapers which Art. 19 [1] (a) guarantees to them. There may be other ways of helping them and it is for the State to search for them but the one they have chosen falls foul of the Constitution. To repeat, the only restrictions which may be imposed on the rights of an individual under Art. 19 [1] (a) are those which cl. [2] of Art 19 permits and no other". 12. In Bennett Coleman & Co. & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. [(1972) 2 SCC 788], the majority of the Constitution Bench held that newspapers should be left free to determine their pages, their circulation and their new edition within their quota which has been fixed fairly. It is an abridgment of freedom of expression to prevent a common ownership unit from starting a new edition or a new newspa- per. A common ownership unit should be free to start a new edition out of their allotted quota and it would be logical to say that such a unit can use its allotted quota for changing its page structure and circulation of different editions of same paper. The compulsory reduction to ten pages offends Article 19 [1] (a) and infringes the freedom of speech and expression. Fixation of page limit will not only deprive the petitioners of their economic viability, but will also restrict the freedom of expression by reason of the compulsive reduction of page level entailing reduction of circulation and including the area of coverage for news and views. Loss of advertisements may not only entail the closing down, but will also affect the circulation and thereby impinge on freedom of speech and expression. The freedom of press entitles newspapers to achieve any volume of circulation. It was further held that the machinery of import control cannot be utilised to curb or control circulation or growth or freedom of newspapers.The news print control policy was in effect a newspaper control policy and a newspaper control policy is ultra vires the Import Control Act and the Import Control Order. The majority further held that by the freedom of press is meant the right of citizens to speak and publish and express their views. The freedom of the press embodies the right of the people to read and it is not ante-thetical to the right of the people to speak and express. The freedom of speech and expression is not only in the volume of circulation but also in the volume of news and views. The press has the right of free publication and their circulation without any obvious restraint on publication. If the law were to single out press for laying down prohibitive burdens on it that would restrict circulation, penalise freedom of choice as to personnel, prevent newspapers from being Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/ 7