New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today declared a Citizen Charter under which it will deliver services to people within a specified time-frame. As per the Charter, for granting permission to TV Channels for uplinking or downlinking, the ministry will forward the applications within two months after receiving them in completed form to the Ministries and Departments concerned for clearances.
The Charter explains that to issue permission for uplinking or downlinking of TV channels from India, the application is examined by Department of Space, Ministry of Home Affairs and other departments. The Citizen Charter lays down a time-frame of four months for delivering on such applications once such formalities are over.
Similarly, as per the Charter a specific time plan is also listed for the Issue of license for providing Direct To Home (DTH) services to prospective licensees. As per the Charter, the applications for DTH services will be forwarded within two months, after the receipt of the completed applications, to the Ministries and Departments concerned for necessary clearances.
Once all the clearances are acquired, the ministry would not keep the application for more than four months, the charter states. Officials said once the Citizens Charter Bill is passed in Parliament, the ministry would become bound by the timeline established under it, officials said. As per the charter, the maximum time taken for issuing license to Multi System Operators after security clearance from MHA will be four months.
Four months` time limit has also been specified for the ministry to issue Letter of Intent for setting up Community Radio Stations (CRS) to NGOs or educational institutes after all mandatory clearances. Issue of approval letter for the publication of Indian editions of foreign magazines, journals etc in the categories Speciality, Technical or Scientific has been set at 3 months after all clearances have been obtained.
The time limit set for granting permission to foreign Producers for shooting films and reality shows is even shorter than that of other applications. The I and B ministry would grant permission within three weeks once clearances from Script Evaluator and the MHA have been received and application is complete in all respects.