Defamation of judiciary: Court seeks records of actions taken

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chairman to submit complete records of the issuance of show-cause notices to private channels for “defaming the judiciary”.

IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued the directions while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Nadeem Ahmed seeking restraints on the media from airing material “against the judiciary”.

On October 9, the same bench summoned the information and broadcasting secretary and the PEMRA chairman in person and directed them to ensure that the media refrained from airing or publishing stories “against” the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) or the Supreme Court.

During the course of hearing on Monday, PEMRA Chairman Dr Abdul Jabbar and federal Information Secretary Chaudhry Rashid Ahmed appeared before Justice Siddiqui, who asked what actions PEMRA has taken against TV channels.

“A person comes on TV programmes and defames the judges. What action you have taken against these TV channels,” he asked. Dr Jabbar admitted that TV channels aired programs in which the judiciary was defamed and that those particular channels had violated PEMRA rules.

Advocate Rizwan Fiaz, counsel for PEMRA, informed the court that the matter is also pending before the apex court and PEMRA has complied with court instructions. He claimed that PEMRA has also made a new code of conduct for TV channels which is available on its website. Information Secretary Chaudhry Rashid said that PEMRA should take action against TV channels “defaming the judiciary”.

Advocate Nadeem had earlier argued that the broadcasts of certain “defamatory” interviews were in violation of Section 20 of the PEMRA Ordinance and that the authority had failed to stop negative coverage, even in repeat transmissions.

CDA foot dragging

Meanwhile, the same bench issued a show-cause notice to the Capital Development Authority Planning Director General Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu and directed him to explain on October 24, why court orders were not obeyed.

The court was hearing a contempt application filed by Sangham Enterprises seeking strict action against the CDA official for non-compliance with court orders. Advocate Sardar Tariq, counsel for the petitioner, said that in 2009, the IHC had directed the CDA to evaluate the legal status of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station in Sector I-10/1. The civic agency was suppose to determine if the CNG station was on private or commercial land, but despite the passage of three years, the CDA official had not complied with the court order.

CDA Deputy Director Ijaz Ahmed appeared before the court and claimed that he took charge on October 3, and according to his knowledge, the court order had not been obeyed.

Advocate Haseeb Chaudhry, counsel for the CDA, requested further time from the court, on which Justice Siddiqui observed that the deputy director had admitted that the court order was not obeyed so there was no reason to seek further time. He issued a show-cause notice to the Planning DG. On July 3, this year, Sindhu was sent to jail for a day for his contemptuous attitude during court proceedings. Later he offered an unconditional apology, which was accepted.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.