Notice to govt on PIL for regulating TV content

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre and others on a PIL seeking framing of guidelines to regulate the contents on television channels.

A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice to the Information and Broadcasting, Law, Information Technology and Communication Ministries and the Press Council of India on the petition filed by Goa-based Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.

Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that there was no mechanism to take action for telecast of objectionable contents or regulate the TV channels including those relating to news and entertainment. For films, there is a certification board but for beaming a programme on television, there was no such regulatory body, he pointed out.

The petition filed through advocate Rajeev K Pandey contended that the mushrooming growth of private TV channels in the recent past has brought a situation where a regulatory authority is not only desirable but also imperative as well so as to have a regulation and check on the contents of the programme.