NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has given the Zee group time till February 7 to respond to extortion charges made by Congress MP Naveen Jindal's Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). The company had filed an FIR against the channel accusing it of demanding Rs 100 crore to drop negative coverage of the firm in the coal block allocation scam.
Two Zee executives — Samir Ahluwalia and Sudhir Choudhary — were granted bail by a Delhi court on December 17 after spending 20 days in jail in connection with the case.
Sources said an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) chaired by the I&B additional secretary has asked Zee to respond to specific queries including if a distorted version of the CAG report was aired during the programme 'Operation media ka sauda' on October 19 and 20, 2012 on Zee News and Zee Business channels. Zee has been asked to explain how reporting was done and what background material was used before airing allegations against JSPL with specific reference to the allegation that the company was allocated 25% profit share by the government.
The panel also sought an explanation on insinuations in the programme 'Coalmaal Unlimited' that JSPL did not fulfill the eligibility criteria. The IMC has also asked Zee group to furnish details about its editorial system and the system in place to authenticate news and reports.
Sources said the I&B ministry was within its rights to revoke the channel's licence if it was proved that there had been grave violations.
The ministry has been examining the issue since December last year after MPs demanded revoking of Zee's licence, raising concern over the quality of content in the winter session of Parliament. Many MPs were of the opinion that a broadcast regulator was necessary to ensure accountability of TV channels.
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