IHC suspends Pemra's notifications to private three members

The court also suspended for the appointment of executive member Pemra Kalimuddin Tipu.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended a show cause notification issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory (PEMRA) against three of its private members for convening a meeting on May 20 related to ongoing media crisis.

The petition was filed by three private members of Pemra including advocate Israr Abbasid, Main Shams and Fareeha Iftikhar.

Earlier, the regulatory body had issued show-cause notice to its private members after they announced the suspension of licences of the three television channels owned by the Geo TV network on May 20, 2014.

The court also suspended the notification for the appointment of executive member Pemra, Kalimuddin Tipu, who issued a statement after May 20 meeting that disowned the decision of private members saying that it had no legal authority.

Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi also issued notices to secretary information ministry and Tipu and asked them to submit their reply on next date of hearing which will be fixed by registrar office later.

The petitioner Advocate Abbasi had argued that being an officer of grade 20, Tipu could not be appointed as executive member Pemra, which is a grade 21 post. He requested the court to restrain the ministry from interfering in Pemra’s affairs.

The petitioner further alleged that the government had violated procedures in the said appointments in order to raise the number people who were loyal to it in Pemra’s board.