Govt appoints Kamaluddin Tipu as acting Pemra chairman

A notification for his appointment has been issued

The government on Wednesday appointed Kamaluddin Tipu as the acting chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Radio Pakistan reported.

A notification to this effect has also been issued.

He replaces Pervez Rathore as acting chief of the media regulatory body.

Almost a year ago, President Mamnoon Hussain had fired the then Pemra chief Chaudhry Rashid Ahmad on April 18, 2014.

The Pemra chairman was removed on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, an official in the Prime Minister House confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Rashid was appointed the chairman of the government’s media watchdog on January 28, 2013 by former president Asif Ali Zardari.

The government had then appointed Pervez Rathore as the acting chief of Pemra, a decision which was challenged and struck down in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on July 15, 2015.

On August 12, 2014, the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by the government and set aside the IHC verdict, reinstating Pervez Rathore as Pemra’s acting chairman and Kamaluddin Tipu as its member.