Geo news reported that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry today ordered Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to issue a broadcasting licence to Geo Super immediately and submit the compliance report in three days.
The Chief Justice during the hearing inquired as to what it was about the channel that still remained to be given a security clearance and how the other channels of Geo were running. Bench member Justice Tariq Pervez in his remarks said that security issues are more concerned with news channels but it is not understood that why it is considered security risk for sports channel.
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the SHC had decided the case against PEMRA, but PEMRA was defying the decision. “Defying the court verdicts seems to have become a fashion these days,” he remarked.
On this, Abdul Jabbar said he, being an acting chairman of PEMRA, was not authorized to issue a license.
The Chief Justice, in reply, said: “Then you better go home and let the regular chairman take care of the affairs of PEMRA.”
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry warned PEMRA that it could be fined Rs500,000 per day for failing to issue the license.