Even as the broadcasters have urged the government to postpone introduction of the proposed Broadcasting Bill in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament due to apprehensions,  the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has convened a meeting of an inter-ministerial group on Monday to finalise the legislation.

Sunday was the last date for receiving comments from all stakeholders on contents of the Content Code that was placed on the ministry website for wider dissemination and consultation. The inter-ministerial group will go through all the feedback received to fine-tune the bill, sources in the I&B Ministry said.

The bill would be “definitely” introduced in the monsoon session, the sources said.

The latest stand of the ministry comes only three days after I&B Minister P R Dasmunshi  told reporters that he was ready to have another round of discussion with the broadcasters. He had also added that introduction of the bill could be postponed, if necessary.

Sources said the bill would allay all the apprehensions of the broadcasters, as the Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), to be set up under the legislation, would be an independent body. Its chairperson would be selected by a panel comprising the Lok Sabha speaker, leader of the opposition and the Rajya Sabha chairperson.

The broadcasters have objected to the proposed legislation’s cross-media restrictions, self-regulation guidelines and content audit. However, the sources said the government would make changes in the draft bill if necessary, going by the comments that have come in.

BRAI would be a watchdog that would consult all broadcasters on important issues without any interference from the government, the sources contended.

Incidentally, the newly-formed News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has demanded that the bill should be kept in abeyance and suggested to the ministry that the broadcasters would form their own content regulation rules. For this, they would require sometime.

Mr Dasmunshi had earlier said that the legislation would be an example to the rest of the world for its progressive nature, but the broadcasters are not convinced, alleging that it would be akin to censorship.

The minister had said that the freedom of the channels would be protected and there would be no interference or control by the government through this bill.