Additionally, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has challenged the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) decision about the ban on reporting on court proceedings.
The request for an urgent hearing has been granted by the court. This afternoon, the case will be heard by a two-member bench led by the Chief Justice of the SHC.
A petition was filed with PEMRA, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and other respondents by Ameen Anwar, Shoukat Korai, and others.
While PEMRA rules permit live court reporting, the petition claimed that PEMRA sent out a notification regarding the restriction on court reporting on May 21, 2024.
Some argued that the ban on court reporting should not have been implemented without calling an authority meeting first.
Per the petition, PEMRA laws did not give attention to the opinions of court reporters.
According to the petition, Articles 8, 9, 10, 18, 19, and 25 of the Constitution were broken by the PEMRA’s decision to outlaw court reporting.
Remarkably, the PEMRA’s notice on the prohibition on reporting court proceedings has also been contested in the High Courts of Islamabad and Lahore.