ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) appeal against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) judgment revoking the suspension of broadcast media licenses by the Pemra.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and also comprising Justices Munib Akhtar and Sayyed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi, heard the appeal.
The court dismissed the appeal against the suspension of PEMRA’s authority to suspend the license of TV channels and upheld the SHC’s decision in the regulatory body’s appeal against the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA).
As a result, the order of the SHC to make rules for license suspension of PEMRA was also upheld.
Justice Akhtar raised the possibility of giving the Pemra chief the authority to suspend licenses at today’s session, but he questioned under what regulations and laws that authority would be given.
“Can the authority (Pemra) give the powers to hire or dismiss a grade three officer?” he asked.
The Pemra chairperson had shut down television channels four times in a single month, according to the PBA’s attorney, Faisal Siddiqui. He said that if a channel is shut off for ten days, it is over.
The applicable rules needed to be framed, Justice Ahsan noted. He continued, “Who they empower is a different matter.”
While giving remarks during the hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan stated that it has been 20 years and PEMRA has still not made rules.
“It has been a year since the high court’s decision, still the rules have not been made,” added Justice Ahsan.
It is worth mentioning that the SHC ordered the organisation to create guidelines for the right to suspend or close the channel after the PBA challenged Chairman PEMRA’s jurisdiction to close (suspend) TV channels in April 2020.
