CJP takes suo moto notice of provinces’ ad campaign

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday took suo moto notice of an advertisement campaign launched by the Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) provinces through print and electronic media, highlighting their respective achievements.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo moto notice while heading a three-member bench of the apex court, hearing the contempt of court notice against the federal and provincial governments for not empowering the local bodies.

The chief justice noted that huge advertisements, highlighting the provincial government achievements in electronic and print media were tantamount to pre-poll rigging.

The chief justice observed that billions of rupees were spent on such advertisements, saying this was done for self-aggrandizement and amounted to pre-poll rigging.

“There is no water in public sector schools while medicines are not available in government hospitals where mostly the poor people visit but provincial governments spend taxpayers’ money on large number of advertisements”, the CJP remarked.

The chief justice noted that the Sindh which is giving advertisement on health issue should spend this money on the hospitals as in many state-run hospitals adequate medicines are not available.

He said if Sindh, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Balochistan, run such advertisements, it should be done with the ruling parties funds.

The chief justice while referring to the recorded statement of the education secretary of Sindh said there is no facility of drinking water in some 4,000 public schools in the province.

The court directed information secretaries of KP, Balochistan and Sindh to file reports bearing the signatures of chief secretaries that under what rules the advertisements are given and to which media houses are engaged for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter until next week but disposed of contempt of court notice regarding empowerment of the Local Bodies under Article 140A of Constitution.

It is pertinent to mention here that Raja Rubnawaz, the applicant, filed contempt petition against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for not complying with the apex court orders, wherein directions were given to the authorities to empower the local governments.

The chief justice however, observed that the local bodies have been conferred power under Article 140A. He said as no contempt is made out therefore the matter is disposed of.

The written order of the suo notice says as under;

It has come to our notice that the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are running advertisements in various print and electronic media forums. Through such advertisements they are indulging in self-projection and self-aggrandizement under the garb of informing the public about the projects completed or being undertaken by them in their respective provinces during their tenure as the government(s) (provincial) in power. Such advertisements and paid content contain photographs of prominent politicians and leaders of the political parties in power. Such profligacy which is obviously undertaken at government expense and taxpayers money should not be burdening the public exchequer. It not only causes wastage of public funds which could otherwise be allocated and utilized for welfare of the public, it also results in providing an unfair advantage to the ruling party in the forthcoming elections. Moreover, in the present circumstances being an election year this may tantamount to pre-poll rigging.

2. Let complete and accurate details be submitted before this court inter alia about the following matters:

i). All the expenditure/amounts incurred/used on such advertisements with separate details relating to electronic and print media.

ii). Identity of print and electronic media houses/groups which have been paid to publish/telecast /broadcast such advertisements.

iii). Names/identification of newspapers/magazines/TV channels/radio stations which have run such advertisements/paid content and aggregate amounts paid /payable to each in the last three months.

iv). The names of government departments, semi government entities, government companies other departments/entities/organisations who have been directed to pay such amounts or through which such amounts have been paid.

v). A summary of the aggregate amount that each province has spent so far in such extravagant displays and self-projection by the respective provincial governments.

3. A detailed report containing the above information shall be submitted under the signatures of the respective secretaries information of each province which shall be countersigned by chief secretary of each province. The chief secretaries shall also submit sworn affidavits with each report confirming that all information has been checked and rechecked it is accurate and supported by the relevant record and no information has been concealed/misstated or withheld for any reason. Such report shall be filed within a period of one week from today. The office shall transmit copies of this order through courier service/fax/email to chief secretaries of all provinces for compliance. Re-list on 12.03.2018.

MeanwhileThe All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has welcomed the intent of the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan to examine the basis of government advertising in the print media.

Sarmad Ali, President and Umer Mujib Shami, Secretary General of APNS, in a press release issued from Karachi, said that the Chief Justice has observed that despite failure to provide utilities, the provincial governments spend tax payers money on massive advertisements in the media for self promotion at the nation’s expense. The APNS clarified that government advertising serves as oxygen to the liquidity starved print media. Any stoppage of government advertisements to media at this stage will have a crippling effect on the economy of the media as the viability of a free press is dependent solely on its financial independence.

The APNS has clarified that the prices of government advertisements were fixed at a fraction of market rates. The APNS also pointed out that the print media in general and the small and regional newspapers in particular, mainly depend on revenue earned from advertisements as the cover price of newspapers does not even meet 5% cost of producing a newspaper. The advertisements issued by federal and provincial governments basically highlight the performance of these governments by disseminating information regarding their respective achievements. This practice is not peculiar to Pakistan but is common across the developing world where advertisements are the main source of information to the people of a country. The APNS is of the considered opinion that any action to limit the government advertisements in the print media, would adversely affect the financial viability of the newspapers which are already facing financial crunch due to economic and industrial slowdown in the country.

The APNS is confident that the Chief Justice understands that the freedom of press, enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution, is one of the fundamentals of any democracy and is the safeguard on which access to information and plurality of views function therein.There are so many real and looming obstacles to the exercise of these important freedoms and we hope that the Chief Justice will address the removal of such obstacles in preference to dwelling on the problems of print advertising, which is done at a fraction of the tariff applicable to commercial advertisers. The APNS requests the three member bench formed by the honourable CJ to take this critical issue into consideration.