CJP orders govt to clear print media dues

Four-member committee formed to report progress to top court

The Supreme Court has set up a four-member committee to report on the details and procedure of payments of advertisements issued during the tenure of the incumbent government.

The committee comprises Principal Information Officer Muhammad Saleem, Secretary General Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) Aijazul Haque, Secretary All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) Sarmad Ali and President Advertising Association Jawwad Humayun while provincial information secretaries will also be the members of the committee for matters relating to provincial advertisements.



Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that the government should clear payments within one week after which advertising companies should make payment to print media organisations within three days.

As the three-member bench, headed by the CJP, began hearing the case, the top judge asked why advertising companies had not made payments to print media organisations. The lawyer informed the court that federal and provincial governments were not making payments.

Meanwhile, federal Information Secretary Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera said that dues of the federal government would be cleared today (Tuesday) while a summary detailing dues up to February 28, 2018 had been dispatched to the prime minister.



He also said there had been no dispute relate to the dues of the government for last five years. To this the CJP said if there was no dispute, the government should make payments.

Subsequently, the secretary information said the department would get the dues cleared within the current week and a payment of Rs401 million would be made in a week to the print media.

The chief justice said the committee would decide about the total amount and procedure of payments and also asked the committee to work as an arbitrator in the case. The top judge then asked the committee to submit its report to the court.