KARACHI, April 25: The Sindh High Court suspended on Wednesday a notice issued to a satellite television channel by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to show cause why its licence should not be cancelled for airing news and views in contravention of the Supreme Judicial Council advisory.

The impugned notice, issued by Pemra on April 23, said the ‘Aaj’ channel had violated the code of conduct formulated for the electronic media under the Pemra rules. It alleged that the channel had failed to furnish to the authority a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, subject to which Pemra had granted it temporary uplinking permit to enable it to transmit its programmes.

The channel moved a petition through Advocates Rasheed A. Razvi, Anwar Mansoor Khan, Mushtaq Memon, Abdid S. Zuberi and Umar Lakhani saying that the notice was repugnant to Article 19 of the Constitution ensuring the freedom of expression and the provisions of Pemra Ordinance and rules framed under it.

A notice under the rules could be issued after consultation with a ‘complaints council’ required to be set up under the Pemra Ordinance and rules of 2002 within 200 days. There was no indication in the notice that the council was consulted. The rules provided for a 15-day notice while the impugned letter gave the channel only three days to submit an explanation, the counsel argued.

Admitting the petition, a division bench comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Mrs Qaiser Iqbal issued notices to the respondent authority and the parent ministry for May 16. The impugned notice was suspended in the meanwhile.