The panel will have 11 other members. (Express Photo: Javed Raja)
THE INTER-MINISTERIAL committee set up to look into statutory requirement on playing of the national anthem in cinema halls and public places will have its first meeting on January 19, to see, among others, if any amendments are required in orders relating to the Insult of National Honour Act, 1971, it is learnt.
Set up on December 5 last year, the terms of reference of the committee are “to frame the guidelines describing circumstances and occasion on which the national anthem is to be played or sung”.
It is also mandated to recommend, if needed, “observance of proper decorum when national anthem is played or sung”. The committee will submit its report within six months, officials said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it optional for theatres to play the national anthem before each film is screened, modifying its November 2016 order.
The inter-ministerial committee will be chaired by Brij Raj Sharma, a Jammu and Kashmir-cadre IAS officer currently in charge of border management in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as special secretary.
The panel will have 11 other members, mostly joint secretary-level officers nominated by the ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Women and Child Development, Human Resource Development, Culture, Parliamentary Affairs, Law, Minority Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra mentioned the committee during the hearing Tuesday. The bench said that the committee should comprehensively look into all aspects relating to playing of the national anthem, and allowed the petitioners to make representations before the panel.
The Centre’s decision to set up the committee came after another bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, observed that people “cannot be forced to carry patriotism on their sleeves”. In its October 2017 ruling, the bench stated that it cannot be assumed that a person is “less patriotic” if he or she does not stand up for the national anthem.
On Tuesday, a senior government official said, “We have sought the SC’s directions on its order in the interim period of six months. Now that the SC had suspended its previous ruling, we will study the order and send fresh communication to states and Union Territories, urging them to not follow the earlier MHA communication sent, based on SC’s directions in 2016.”
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