Mumbai: The Centre on Thursday issued a notification amending the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, thereby providing a statutory mechanism for redressal of grievances/complaints of citizens relating to content broadcast by television channels in accordance with the provisions of the Cable Television Network Act, 1995.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a statement said the amendment aims at providing this statutory mechanism, which would be transparent and benefit the citizens. At the same time, self-regulating bodies of broadcasters would be registered with the Central Government.
The ministry said the notification is significant as it paves the way for a strong institutional system for redressing grievances while placing accountability and responsibility on the broadcasters and their self-regulating bodies.
At present, there is an institutional mechanism by way of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to address grievances of citizens relating to violation of the Programme/Advertising Codes under the Rules. Similarly, various broadcasters have also developed their internal self-regulatory mechanism for addressing grievances. ‘’However, a need was felt to lay down a statutory mechanism for strengthening the grievance redressal structure.''
The Supreme Court, too, in its 2020 order advised that appropriate rules be framed.