Summary for PEMRA chairman's appointment to be sent to prime minister by Sept 18

Members of committee on information also express concern over delay in approval of RTI law

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage on Wednesday was told that process for appointing a full-time chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had begun.

The committee, which met with Kamil Ali Agha in the chair, was informed by Secretary Information Muhammad Azam that an advertisement had already been published in newspapers for the purpose, interviews (of potential candidates) would be conducted and a summary for the appointment of new PEMRA chief would be forwarded to the prime minister by September 18.

Discussing the recently issued code of conduct for electronic media, committee members said that the ministry should have informed the Supreme Court that the matter was in Parliament, and should not have presented the code prepared by the committee headed by Prime Minister's Adviser Irfan Siddiqui.

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A counsel for Pakistan Broadcasters Association had informed the court that they were not taken on board for finalising the code of conduct, said secretary information.

The acting PEMRA chairman said the apex court had given only a few hours to notify the code of conduct. He added that the court had observed in its order that this code would be temporary till the appointment of a regular PEMRA chairman.

Concern over RTI law

Meanwhile, the committee members expressed concern over delay in getting the Right to Information Bill (RTI) approved by the Cabinet.

Secretary information said his ministry had sent the draft bill to the Cabinet Division for approval.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said the bill was approved by the standing committee in July last year but it was yet to be presented to the federal cabinet for approval.

Foreign content

The committee also expressed its dissatisfaction over lack of action by PEMRA against satellite TV channels violating rules regarding foreign content.

Acting PEMRA chairman Kamaluddin Tipu said 10 per cent foreign content was allowed under the rules out of which six per cent could be Indian content. Whenever a violation was noted by the body, notices were issued and fines were imposed on the respective channels, he added.

They also asked to the ministry that PEMRA should advise private channels to increase the number of public service messages and publicise the telephone numbers of Council of Complaints.

The meeting was attended by Senator Farhutullah Babar, Dr Ashok Kumar, Rubina Khalid, Nihal Hashmi and Mushahidullah Khan, among others.