The Delhi High Court has asked the Central government and the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)for its views in a petition that calls for a government takeover of the body responsible for statistics on television audience measurement.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad have asked the Union Ministries of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs also the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The Court has given the respondents six weeks of time to file their responses and listed the case for further hearing on April 28, 2023.
The Court is currently looking into a PIL that was filed by trust named Veterans Forum for Transparency in Public Life.
The plea also demands a strict implementation and compliance of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 2016.
The Act calls for establishment of a National body for developing standards for various processes and services in the field of education, health, advertisements as well as television audience meaurement.
The PIL said that these functions are being carried out by an array of bodies leading to chaos, convulsion and corruption which was affecting the public and viewers at large.
The Court was told that the government has not taken any action or initiated any positive move in this regard.