ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah of Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notice to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday seeking cancellation of the authority’s bidding process which it advertised for issuing licences.

An IHC bench accepted the petition for regular hearing.

Petitioner Chaudhry Muhammad Sharif of Gujrat, through his counsel Advocate Zulfiqar Malooka, said before the court that he had applied for a TV licence two years ago and also submitted the requisite amount of Rs200,000.

Pemra had recently announced through an advertisement that applicants seeking licence for media outlets should participate in bidding process.

Petitioner while naming Pemra and federation of Pakistan as respondents argued that the regulatory body prescribed the bidding process criteria in April this year.

The counsel also mentioned that the Supreme Court had, in Hamid Mir’s case, held that Pemra was incomplete without a permanent chairman. The authority was still without a chairman hence the bidding process should also be stopped, the petitioner argued. The court adjourned the hearing till next week.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2014