The Supreme Court of India dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought directions to the Union government and The Times of India to supply a complete copy of the daily newspaper to every buyer and to donate ₹10 crore to an animal shelter or welfare scheme.

A bench comprising Justices J. Sandeep Mehta and Vikram Nath questioned the maintainability of the petition. The petitioner argued that the newspaper had adopted discriminatory distribution practices by providing incomplete copies to some buyers, claiming the categorization lacked “reasonable differentia” and created inequality among readers.

Justice Mehta asked how a writ petition could be filed against a private newspaper, observing that The Times of India is not a “State” under constitutional law. Justice Nath also remarked that the issue could be resolved simply by informing the newspaper vendor (hawker).

Finding no merit in the claims, the Court dismissed the petition.