Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), J&K, Shailendra Kumar today chaired the maiden meeting of the State Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (SLMCMC) and deliberated on the matters related to the functioning and mandate of the Committee.
Director Information & Public Relations, Gulzar AhmedDar, General Manager, BSNL, J&K, Kulbushan Sharma, Additional CEO, RakeshKumar Srangal, Deputy Director Information, Jammu, Minakshi Vaid andrepresentative of PIB attended the meeting.
The CEO impressed upon the Members to work in closecoordination with the Members of District Level Media Certification MonitoringCommittees (DLMCMCs) which have been constituted in each district under thechairmanship of concerned District Election Officer (Deputy Commissioner) andMedia Certification Monitoring Committee in the office of the CEO and dischargetheir functioning as per the ambit and scope and guidelines laid down by theElection Commission of India. He urged them to frequently interact with theMembers of the above referred Committees and monitor the feedback so receivedfrom them for timely and appropriate disposal by the SLMCMC.
Explaining the role and responsibilities of the Committee,the CEO informed that SLMCMC constituted under the chairmanship of CEO, J&Khas the mandate to decide appeal (s) from both district and Additional/JointCEO Committees on Certification of Advertisements as per the directions of theElection Commission, to examine all cases of Paid News on appeal against thedecision of district MCMC or cases that they may take up suo-moto, in whichcase it shall direct the concerned ROs to issue notices to the candidates. Theappeal(s) both from District and Additional/Joint CEO Committees will lie onlywith and shall be disposed of by the SLMCMC as per the Commission’s order dated15th April, 2004 without any reference to the Commission.
Similarly, the DLMCMCs shall have the responsibility tocertify the advertisements in print, electronic and social media, for which twospecific Members viz; Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer areempowered to consider and decide on such advertisements for certification.Besides, the Committee shall examine the complaints/issues of Paid News etcthrough a monitoring mechanism, said the CEO.
The MCMC constituted in the office of the CEO headed byAdditional CEO shall entertain applications for certification of advertisementson television channels and cable network by the all registered PoliticalParties, organizations or group of persons or associations having theirregistered offices in the State, the CEO informed.