States mandated to set up committee on the Content Regulations of Govt Ads

As per the Supreme Court directions, the states have been mandated to set up their three-member committees on the Content Regulation of Government Advertisements.

In its 19th- meeting held in September 2020, the Committee on the Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) took a serious note of the delay in constituting a state-level committee by some of the states.

The meeting CCRGA was chaired by Om Prakash Rawat, the former Chief Election Commissioner of India. It was attended by Ashok Kumar Tandon, a part-time member, Prasar Bharati Board, and Ramesh Narayan of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations.

States that have constituted the committees:

• State-level Committees on the Content Regulation of Government Advertisements have already been constituted by Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

• Chhattisgarh Government has also given its consent to the central committee to monitor the content of its government advertisements.

Objective of CCRGA:

The committee has been empowered to address complaints from the general public on the violation of the Supreme Court’s guidelines and can also make suitable recommendations.

CCRGA on state-level committees:

The Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) has been of the view that some state government’s delay in setting up the state-level committee can be construed as contempt of the Supreme Court’s order.

Its attention was also drawn to the fact that some respondents were yet to furnish their replies to the notices issued to them in response to the complaints received by the committee. CCRGA has been of the opinion that the non-compliance of its decision is a serious matter.

What actions can be taken by CCRGA?

The committee is of the opinion that in any event of any non-compliance of CCRGA’s orders, it can be constrained to put an embargo on the issue of further advertisements by the nodal agencies of concerned governments, which also comes under the purview of this committee.

If necessary, the committee can also decide to summon the concerned official of the govt agencies who have been dealing with the release of advertisements in the event of undue delay in responding to the committee’s notices.

Background:

As per the directions given by Supreme Court on May 13, 2015, the Indian Government on April 6, 2016, had set up a three-member body to look into the content regulation of government-funded advertisements of all the media platforms.

Under the guidelines by the Supreme Court, the content of the government advertisement must be relevant to the government’s constitutional and legal obligations as well as the citizen’s entitlements and rights.