India - The Supreme Court today put a ban on television channels and cable operators from telecasting any advertisement which did not conform to the law of the land or which offended morality, religion and decency of the viewers and which are shocking, disgusting and revolting.
A three-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice V.N. Khare, passed this order on a Special Leave Petition filed by the Union of India challenging an Andhra Pradesh High Court interim order allowing telecast of political advertisements in television channels.
The Bench directed the Election Commission of India to monitor all the advertisements and decide the question whether they conformed to the laws ofthe land and are in conformity with the Court's order.
The Bench directed the Election Commission to consider whether the expenses for telecast of the advertisements could be included as election expenses of the candidates or the political parties and also to work out the modalities for strict compliance of the Court's order.