Court stays govt's one-door ad policy

The Supreme Court on Sunday stayed the government's new policy on distribution of advertisements to media organisations proportionally from a single channel.

A single bench of Justice Girish Chandra Lal ordered the government not to implement the policy until another ruling. The bench also asked the petitioners and the defendants to be present before the bench on March 13.

Advertisement agency owners had moved the court, saying that the new policy was unfair and ill-intended. Big media houses particularly Kantipur Publications, which is one of the major beneficiaries of government advertisements under the previous policy, had criticised the new regulations, which would come into effect from March 21.

Kantipur daily has argued that that the "one-door policy" is targeted against media organisations that are critical of the government.

On the other hand, the government said the new regulations are aimed at systematising the distribution of government advertisement and that smaller media organisations would also benefit from it. nepalnews.com