Are there any criteria for allocating advertisement space in newspapers?
18 Feb, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) seeking to know the criteria followed in categorizing newspapers, fixing ceiling for issue of advertisements and allocating advertisement space within large medium and small newspapers. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided the copies of the documents laying down the criteria on both these counts. The PIO also provided some information regarding the inter se allocation of advertisement space within each category of newspapers.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant argued that the PIO had not provided the information about the policy followed with regard to allocation of advertisement space within each category of newspapers. The PIO had only provided the criteria followed in allocating advertisement space among these three categories.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the appellant is yet to receive the criteria followed by the government in allocating advertisement space among the newspapers falling within any one of the three categories. The CIC directed the PIO to provide the information if it is available. The Commission also held that if this information is not available in the form of any published policy, the PIO should provide the information in whatever form it is available.
Citation: Mrs. Neelam Singh Gill v. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/001116
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1059
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