The Supreme Court (SC) today has stayed a High Court (HC) order on declaring the sponsoring of TV news and headlines illegal.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Sunday.
Advocate Masud Ahmed Sayeed stood for the writ petitioner while Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) lawyer Barrister Khandaker Reza-e-Raquib was also present before the court.
Earlier on May 6 last year, declaring it illegal, the HC put a restriction on airing news headlines and different parts of news in private television channels with commercial sponsorship.
A bench of Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Sashanka Shekhar Sarkar passed the order after hearing a rule issued earlier to this end.
Advocate Masud Sayeed said the HC passed the order as news might be distorted or controlled if any commercial establishment sponsors it which is also violation of articles 31, 32 and 39 of the Constitution.
With the court order, Tapos Kumar said, TV channels can air ads as much as they wish but that must be before, after and in the middle of the news. “But no advertisement of a company can be aired in different segments, including headlines, of the news with its sponsorship.”
On October 17, 2011, a former teacher of Government Laboratory High School filed the writ petition in the form of public interest litigation when the court issued a rule.
The rule sought explanation from the authorities concerned in this regard within two weeks.
nh/wi
