Tandon panel may examine cases of 'excessive, selective' govt

The B B Tandon panel, set up by the Centre to look into issues related to content regulation in government advertising, may also examine cases of "excessive and selective" advertisements, officials said today.
"It is possible that the Tandon Committee may look into such matters," I&B Ministry officials said when asked how the government will address the issue of "excessive and selective" government advertisements.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds the Information and Broadcasting portfolio, had on Saturday voiced concern over "selective and excessive" advertising by a state government and wondered if it amounted to "political bribery".
Jaitley had not named any party but his remarks come at a time when BJP has been attacking the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi over its advertisement budget.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had last month set up the three-meber panel headed by Tandon, former Chief Election Commissioner, to see that guidelines set for government advertisements by the Supreme Court are followed. Senior journalist Rajat Sharma and ad-man Piyush Pandey are other members of the panel.
Meanwhile, proposals have been received from the Delhi Assembly Speaker and the Tamil Nadu government for starting new channels, the officials said.
They, however, indicated that the ministry would take into account the TRAI recommendations, which are not in favour of allowing governments into broadcasting activities.