Interim order: SHC allows media to cover court proceedings, say lawyers

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday restrained Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) from taking any coercive action against private TV channel’s reporters, covering court proceedings, till further orders, lawyers informed reporters.

The interim order came on petition filed by court reporters of private TV channels challenging the Pemra’s letter in which TV channels were directed to refrain from airing tickers/headlines with regard to court proceedings till final order of the case, the counsel said.

Petitioners Shahid Hussain, Mohammad Asghar, Irfan-ul-Haq, Amin Anwar and Shaukat Korai submitted in the petition that they were journalists and covering court proceedings of the cases for their respective private TV channels.

Their counsel Abdul Moiz Jaffery and M Tariq Mansoor submitted that impugned Pemra’s directives were tantamount to a blanket ban on coverage of court proceedings. They submitted that impugned letters tantamount to amendments in the Pemra code of conduct 2015, which cannot be made without fair trial and due process of the law. They submitted that impugned directives violate the right to information regarding matters of public importance, which were protected under the Article 19-A of the Constitution.

The counsel submitted that Pemra had tried to impose ban on court proceedings coverage through such directives, which is against the spirit of Constitution and judgments of the Supreme Court.

The court was requested to declare the impugned directives as unconstitutional. SHC’s division bench headed by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi observed that court reporters should exercise utmost care while covering the court proceedings as some time negative impression goes with regard to judiciary while quoting the observations of the judges.

The court issued notices to Pemra, Ministry of Information and others and called their comments and in meantime restrained the Pemra from taking any coercive action against the petitioners in respect of its impugned letters till further orders.