SC mandated Committee met on ‘Content Regulation in Government Advertising’

DATE: 07 SEP 2020

The 19th meeting of Supreme Court -mandated Committed on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) was held (virtually) on 4th September, 2020.

The meeting, chaired by Sh. Om Prakash Rawat, former Chief Election Commissioner of IndiaIndia Bharat Varsha (Jambu Dvipa) is the name of this land mass. The people of this land are Sanatan Dharmin and they always defeated invaders. Indra (10000 yrs) was the oldest deified King of this land. Manu's jurisprudence enlitened this land. Vedas have been the civilizational literature of this land. Guiding principles of this land are : सत्यं वद । धर्मं चर । स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । Read more, was attended by two other members, Sh. Ramesh Narayan of Asian Federation of Advertising Associations and past President, IAA and Shri Ashok Kumar Tandon, Part- TimeTime Where any expression of it occurs in any Rules, or any judgment, order or direction, and whenever the doing or not doing of anything at a certain time of the day or night or during a certain part of the day or night has an effect in law, that time is, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, held to be standard time as used in a particular country or state. (In Physics, time and Space never exist actually-“quantum entanglement”) Member, Prasar Bharti Board.

As per directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, states are mandated to set up their respective three member committees on Content Regulation of Government Advertisements. Karnataka, Goa, Mizoram and Nagaland States have already constituted state-level Three Member Committees. The State Government of Chhattisgarh has given its consent to the Central Committee to monitor the content of their government advertisements.

The CCRGA meeting took a serious note of the fact that other states have yet to constitute their respective state level Committees.

The CCRGA was of the view that some state governments’ delay in setting up the state-level committees may be construed as contempt of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order.

The CCRGA’s attention was also drawn to the fact that some respondents were yet to furnish their replies to the notices issued to them in response to the complaints received by the Committee.

In view of the current Covid19 pandemic the Committee decided to allow further time to respondents to furnish their replies to the notices In all the pending complaints lodged with the Committee.

The CCRGA felt that non-compliance of its decisions was a serious matter. It was of the considered opinionOpinion A judge's written explanation of a decision of the court. In an appeal, multiple opinions may be written. The court’s ruling comes from a majority of judges and forms the majority opinion. A dissenting opinion disagrees with the majority because of the reasoning and/or the principles of law on which the decision is based. A concurring opinion agrees with the end result of the court but offers further comment possibly because they disagree with how the court reached its conclusion. that in the event of any non-compliance of CCRGA’s Orders, the Committee may be constrained to put embargo on issue of further advertisements by nodal agencies of concerned governments, which come under purview of this Committee.

The Committee may, if necessary, also decide to summon the concerned official of the Govt. agencies dealing with release of advertisements in the event of undue delay in responding to Committee’s notices.

It may be recalled that as per the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court on 13th May, 2015, the Government of India on 6th April, 2016 had set up a three member body consisting of “persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality and who have excelled in their respective fields”, to look into content regulation of government funded advertisements of all media platforms. Under the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s guidelines dated 13th May, 2015 – “the content of Government Advertisement should be relevant to the government’s constitutional and legal obligations as well as the citizen’s right and entitlements”. Hon’ble Supreme Court has also observed that “Advertisement materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner and designed to meet the objectives of the campaign”, “Advertisement materials should be objective and not directed at promoting political interests of ruling party”, “Advertisement Campaigns be justified and undertaken in an efficient and cost-effective manner” and “ Government advertising must comply with legal requirement and financial regulations and procedures”.

The Committee is empowered to address complaints from the general public on violation of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s guidelines and make suitable recommendations. The complaints may be filed before the committee on its address: The Member Secretary, Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA), Room No. 469, 4th Floor, Soochna Bhawan, C.G.O. Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003 (Contact No. 011-24367810, whatsapp No. +91 9599896993) or to its email: ms.ccrga@gmail.com .