Delhi HC seeks Centre's response on govt takeover of BARC plea

New Delhi, Dec 21 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Centre and the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking government takeover of the body responsible for statistics on television audience measurement.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma sought responses in six weeks' time from the Union Ministries of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).

The bench listed the matter for next hearing on April 28, 2023.

The PIL filed by a trust Veterans Forum for Transparency in Public Life also sought strict implementation and compliance of the BIS Act, 2016, which states the establishment of a national body for developing standards for various processes and services in the field of education, health, advertisements and television audience measurement.

"These functions carried out by many bodies are leading to chaos, convulsion and corruption, affecting viewers at large," the plea stated.