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Govt must pay for media advts within 1 month: PCI

By The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, Nov 24 � Concerned that newspapers are sometimes made to run �pillar to post� to get payments for Government advertisments, Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju said dues should be paid within a month of its publication failing which 12 per cent interest must be levied, reports PTI.

Taking up the cause of the print media, Justice (retd) Katju made the proposal in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary, the Secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Chief Secretaries of all States.

Katju, whose recent remarks against media has attracted criticism, said he has noted that very often the payments are delayed and that newspapers and periodicals are made to run from �pillar to post� to get the dues from government departments in Central and State governments and the Union Territories and other authorities.

�Non-compliance of this directive will be taken very seriously by me, and the person or authority concerned will have to face the consequences,� Katju said, asking government departments to make the payments within a month of their advertisments being published in newspapers.

Katju also made it clear that levy of 12 per cent interest per annum should not be taken as �penalty or punishment� and it is the normal accretion of capital. �It may be mentioned that interest is not a penalty or punishment at all. It is the normal accretion on capital. Hence for delayed payment, interest has also to be paid,� he said.

If the management of a newspaper or journal receives prompt payment, they can invest it elsewhere and keep the money in circulation. If that is not done, the money is blocked,� Katju wrote.

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