SC moved for lifting FM news ban

Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 20:

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was today filed at the Supreme Court seeking its order to government authorities, including the Cabinet Secretariat, to let Frequency Modulation radios (FM) broadcast news. Advocates Madhav Basnet and Sudeep Paudel challenged a recent notice issued by the administrator of the Central Region that extended the ban on FM radios.

The regional administrator had issued letters to several FMs on May 2 directing them not to broadcast news. The Cabinet Secretariat, Ministries of Home, Information and Communications, District Administration Offices in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, Regional Administrator Rabindra Chakrawarti and his office are made defendants. “The authorities have violated the rights of the people guaranteed by the 1990 Constitution,” they clalimed.