The Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted a three-member Committee to see that guidelines set for government advertisements by the Supreme Court are followed.
The committee will be headed by the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) B B Tandon.
Senior TV journalist Rajat Sharma and ad-man Piyush Pandey will be the other two members of the committee.
Supreme Court order on Government Advertisements
In May 2015, Supreme Court in its order had issued Guidelines on Regulating Government Advertisements based on recommendations of Prof NR Madhava Menon Committee.
In its order, SC had barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.
SC had also directed the Union Government to constitute a three-member committee to regulate the issue of public advertisements.
It had clearly mentioned that members of this committee should be consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality.
However, in March 2016 SC modified its earlier May 2015 order and allowed photographs of Chief Ministers, Governors and ministers to be carried in public advertisements.
Background
The committee was constituted by I&B Ministry based on the recommendation of the three-member selection committee comprising Press Council Chairman Justice (retd) C K Prasad, I&B Secretary Sunil Arora and advertising professional Prasoon Joshi.
Current Affairs 8th April, 2016 Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17 Highlights of Railway Budget 2016
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