Three-member panel set up for content regulation of government advertising

The ministry of information and broadcasting today announced the constitution of a three-member committee to address the issues related to content regulation in government advertising, as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

The committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner of India BB Tandon, has Rajat Sharma, chairman and editor-in-chief of India and president of the News Broadcasters Association TV  and Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director (South Asia) of Ogilvy & Mather, as members.

The three-member committee was selected by a three-member panel headed by Justice (retd) Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, chairman, Press Council of India, constituted by I&B ministry on the advice of the ministry of law and justice.

The committee would, inter-alia, address complaints from the general public of violation on the implementation of the guidelines set out by the Supreme Court. The committee would also take suo motu cognizance of any violation / deviation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court and recommend corrective action to the ministry /department.

The committee may recommend suitable changes to the Supreme Court guidelines to deal with new circumstances and situations that may arise from time to time, without making major policy changes within the policy direction of Supreme Court. The committee shall not be bound by any legal rules of evidence and may follow such procedure that appears to it to be fair and proper for swift settlement of grievances. For all decisions of the committee, the view of majority would prevail.

The tenure of the members would be initially for a period of two years, which shall be extendable by one year at a time, but overall extension should not be more than two times. The committee would be operational from Delhi and Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity would facilitate day to day functioning of the committee.