The Hindu : Regulate surrogate ads, Government tells EC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 30, 2004

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Regulate surrogate ads, Government tells EC

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. Expressing its inability to take any action on `surrogate advertisements' being aired on certain television channels, the Central Government today put the onus on the Election Commission to regulate such advertisements under the model code of conduct.

The Commission had on March 27 asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take appropriate action under Rule 7 of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 against the telecast of `surrogate' advertisements with oblique reference to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and inform it of the action taken by 5 p.m. today. In his reply, the Joint Secretary to the I&B Ministry, U.S. Bhatia, informed the Commission that the Advertising Committee, which met today, was of the opinion that the advertisements in question were being aired in the context of the coming elections and, therefore, would not fall within the purview of Rule 7. Instead, they would come within the ambit of Rule 7(3) of the Cable TV Network Rules.

He said that since Rule 7(3) had been stayed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the Commission could consider regulating these advertisements under the model code of conduct. The Ministry would provide the necessary assistance to the Commission for regulating/monitoring such advertisements.

The Commission's communication to the Ministry referred to a complaint received from the Congress regarding an advertisement issued by Kamakshi Education Society and being telecast on Aaj Tak and Zee News channels. The Ministry's reply (without any comment) stated: "The Advertising Committee noted the contents of the reference and saw the video recording of the advertisement concerned."

The Committee's attention had also been drawn to an advertisement issued by the Sajhi Virasat Trust, and telecast on Aaj Tak, casting aspersions on the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The reply says: "The committee also saw a video recording of this advertisement which clearly vitiates the level of political debate in the country."

The committee noted that Rule 7 related to advertisements for goods and services being telecast on the electronic media, as political advertisements were specifically prohibited under Rule 7(3). Due to a ban on political advertisements, no norms had been prescribed for regulating them.

On the other hand, the contents of the advertisements viewed by the committee clearly had relevance to the ongoing electoral process. The only provision of relevance to these advertisements was contained in Rule 7(3), the operation of which had been stayed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Under these circumstances, the committee concluded that the present provisions of Rule 7 were not attracted and hence asked the Commission to consider regulating such advertisements under the model code.

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