A Supreme Court-mandated committee on content regulation in government advertising (CRGA) noted that some states are yet to constitute their respective committees and this delay might be construed as a contempt of the apex court’s orders.
CRGA
As per a Supreme Court order, states are mandated to set up their respective three-member committees on content regulation of government advertisements. Karnataka, Goa, Mizoram and Nagaland States have already constituted state-level three-member committees. The state government of Chhattisgarh has given its consent to the Central Committee to monitor the content of their government advertisements.
The Centre had set up the three-member CRGA consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality and who have excelled in their respective fields, to look into content regulation of government funded advertisements of all media platforms. According to the SC guidelines, government advertisement campaigns should not be directed at promoting political interests of a party. They also prohibit any government advertisement from mentioning the ruling party by its name, glorifying anyone except the President, Prime Minister or Chief Justice of India, or attacking the views or actions of opposition parties and including any party symbol or logo.
In 2015, the SC had ordered setting up of such a panel in each state. The I&B Ministry stated that if states are not keen on constituting their own panels, they can vest the authority in the Centre’s 3 member content regulation committee.
