New Delhi: The Press Council of India is currently faced with pendency of 931 cases and the average time taken to dispose of a matter is six months.
"In cases where the papers are complete with comments/ written statement/counter comments and the matter is ready for listing before the Inquiry Committee, the matter is disposed of on an average within a maximum of six months," Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting CM Jatua said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. He also gave year wise figures of cases received and disposed of by the Press Council. In the year 2008-09, the number of complaints received was 726 and the number of complaints disposed was 581.
In 2009-10 the number of complaints received with the Press Council was 950 and complaints disposed off was 681. In 2010-11 the number of complaints was 900 and 1026 complaints were disposed off.
In the year 2011-12, till November 18, 458 complaints have been received while 574 have been disposed of leaving a pendency of 931 cases, Jatua said. In reply to another question, Jatua said that there was no proposal to curb the powers of the CEO of Prasar Bharati.
PTI